Looking for the Perfect Nanny
by kyouya-haruhi-forever
Summary: Haruhi has separated from all the host club members. Yet she still keeps in touch with them no matter where they are, except Kyouya. She never thinks that she will see him again. Until he appears on her doorstep with an unexpected someone...
1. Overture

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Disclaimer: _I do not own Ouran_.

Edited by: _Minako Winner & cowgirlkitten2000 (31/10/07)_

* * *

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_-- __**Overture **__--_

Life was always like clockwork for Haruhi Fujioka. She wake up at 8 in the morning, took a shower, made herself a cup of coffee, arranged the textbooks and other materials she needed for the day and headed off to her campus. She would return to her apartment at around 6 in the evening, watched some news on television and, did her homework before hitting the lights and going off to bed.

If it was either Saturday or Sunday; she would allocate some of her spare time to clean her small apartment, before she went to the nearby market to buy her groceries. On some busier days Haruhi would spend most of her time in the Law Program's library of Tokyo University where she was studying at the moment. And when she was in the mood to have a little bit of fun she would drop by either the bookstore, just around the corner of her university, or the music store downtown.

Everything always worked on well-organized patterns for her ever since her father moved to Karuizawa to work with Misuzu Sonoda, a.k.a Suzie. When Suzie told her father that she (or he) planned to expand her inn and needed to find a suitable partner; Ranka proposed himself. Haruhi did not oppose her father's plan to leave her alone, nor did she agree with it. She left her father to make the decision himself. Besides, it was her father's happiness that counted the most to her.

Truthfully, she felt more comfortable with an organized life. Although she was not some sort of a control freak; she just preferred to be in control of her life. It was exactly the life Haruhi had before she joined the host club. When she was in the host club everything was turned upside down; she almost gave up on having a coordinated life. However, things always change, and that's what happened with the host club.

Ouran High Host Club was merely history now.

--

Sometimes Tamaki still called her from Paris where he was studying at the moment. His grandmother already accepted him as the heir of the Suoh family, agreeing that he would spend his college time with his mother there.

Hunny and Mori opted to study in Italy. It was actually Hunny's idea to go there in the first place to study culinary. And Mori followed him like he always did. They kept in good contact with her, sending her many beautiful pictures of Italy and hoping that she would visit them there someday.

And for a year she stayed at Ouran High School with only the twins. The three were inseparable back then, although there were no host club activities anymore. They still continued toying her like usual; just the same when all the senpais were still around.

It was only a couple months ago when finally they graduated from Ouran High School, they went their separate ways. The twins chose to study Design in Paris; the same city as Tamaki. Sometimes she could not help but smile inwardly whenever she thought about what kind of commotion might happen with those three living in the same city like that.

However, it was different with Kyouya. She had not heard any news from him since the day he graduated from high school. For some strange reason the other host club members would avoid talking about him whenever they called her from overseas. Even the twins kept their mouths shut, avoiding her for the whole day whenever she raised questions about him. The only piece of information she ever got about him was that he was currently studying in Tokyo University. Incidentally, it was Tamaki who blurted out the news; she was calling him for the first time after he went to Paris, wanting to tell him that she was accepted in Tokyo University's Law Program.

It was a surprise for her to know that Kyouya was also studying in the same university as her since she never saw him there. At first she merely thought that it was probably because Tokyo University was not exactly small in size. Besides, there were thousands of people studying there, so it would be difficult for them to meet by chance. So she thought of a way around it; asking the campus administration.

She did not know what program that Kyouya studied in, although somehow she had a hunch that he would most likely take business as his major. But oddly enough, the administration strictly refused to reveal any kind of information about him. She even got nothing when she asked the simplest question; like whether Kyouya Ootori was a student at the university or not.

In the end, she gave up all attempts to find him. Haruhi did not know why she wanted to meet with him in the first place anyway. Probably unconsciously she still missed the old days when she needed to entertain girls with the rest of the host club members; and how she was always occupied with the eccentricities from those ultra-rich people in there. And knowing that one of them was still in Japan, somehow made her want to see him again. It was the only logical explanation that she could think of for wanting to see the former shadow king again. Besides, what else could it be other than that anyway?

--

It was almost like any other day, everything seemed perfectly normal when Haruhi woke up with a start. She glanced quickly at her watch and realized that she was almost late for her first lesson of the day. She was never late to any of her classes before and she definitely did not want to start now.

It was quite unusual for her to wake up that late; yet perhaps it was understandable, since she was awake until very late the night before. And during the evening before she kept thinking about the host club, and could not help but wonder whether there would be a day she coincidentally met Kyouya while studying at Tokyo University.

After preparing everything for her classes that day, and even though she was feeling a bit sad that she had to skip her breakfast, Haruhi hustled towards the front door of her small apartment.

In the midst of her hastened attempt to leave her apartment as soon as possible, she merely opened the door in a careless manner. Thus as a result of her negligence, she nearly hit the person who for some reason happened to be standing exactly in front of her doorstep.

Haruhi would have definitely thought that the person was a burglar; if it was not for the fact sun was already shining brightly. Yet because of the same brightness from the sun she could not see the person clearly, only making out from the tall figure that it was definitely a man.

--

After a couple of seconds later, her eyes were finally able to adjust to the intense light from the morning sun. At that moment, Haruhi could finally see the person who was still standing awkwardly in front of her, not utter a word as if he was expecting her to start a conversation.

And upon realizing who the person was; Haruhi felt as if her heart almost missed a beat.

"Senpai…." Haruhi whispered her voice barely audible.

"Hello Haruhi, It's nice to know that you still recognize me." replied Kyouya as his trademark smirk illustrated vividly across his flawless face.

It was as if nothing had changed between them; the two sounded like they only hadn't seen each other for a mere day.

Before she could ask Kyouya further why he suddenly decided to appear on her doorstep out of the blue; the guy opened up his mouth again, speaking very cautiously in a way that was very much unlike the Kyouya she knew all along.

"Haruhi, I need to ask a _favour_ from you."

"Eh?"

Yet before Haruhi managed to say anything else, she felt somebody tugged on the corner of her long sleeve shirt.

And that's when she saw him; a little boy who was like a small version of the older man who was currently still gazing intently at her.

He had Kyouya's resemblance…

-- to be continued --

**A/N:**

Thanks a lot Minako Winer for such detailed editing. I must say that you really did a superb work here. And for cowgirlkitten2000 thank you so much for your suggestions in which it enabled me to improved my work. Both of you rocks!


	2. One

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I only own the plot of this story.

Edited by: Cringe (14/01/2008)

* * *

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_--__** One**__ --_

For the first time in her life, Haruhi Fujioka skipped her class. It was something she had never done before, intentionally or not.

However, that day was completely different.

It was something unexpected for her to see Kyouya Ootori again especially after she had given up hope searching for him. Still, what surprised her most was the other person he brought with him.

When Kyouya explained to her who the person was, Haruhi found that it was more than an unexpected surprise for her. That fact alone was beyond any good reasons for her to stay at home with her guests.

For once in her life, she could not even care _less_ about all her classes.

--

Haruhi had been staring with both of her amber eyes wide open at the guy with a flawless face who sat composedly in front of her for almost five minutes before she could think properly about his question.

He must be simply throwing a bad joke at her. A very bad one if she might add.

Sadly, no matter how many times she repeated Kyouya's words inside her head, she still failed to find the amusing part of the question she just heard from him. Or at least what she thought she had heard.

Furthermore, Haruhi knew only too well that Kyouya Ootori was not exactly the type of person who would joke over such matter that lightly. She did not even recall that he had a good sense of humor to begin with. Once she even thought that Kyouya and humor were just not fated to exist in the same realm. The closest thing to a joke that he had been able to throw at her in the past was his ability to say things so utterly sarcastic that people around her might mistakenly take it as his unique way of pulling her legs.

At least that was Kyouya she thought she had known before he walked out on everyone in the host club's life including her own.

Haruhi took a deep breath before she managed to say, "I'm sorry, I don't quite get your last sentence, Kyouya-Senpai. You want me to be what?"

"Be my son's _nanny_," repeated Kyouya simply. His expression was veiled behind his bangs.

"Why should I?" asked Haruhi with a hint of exasperation in her voice.

The words that came out so bluntly from her mouth made Kyouya fixed his onyx eyes on the girl before him as though he found it difficult to discern her statement. He could not help but notice that she still tilted her head in the same way he remembered she always did whenever she tried to comprehend strenuous questions.

A small sigh escaped from his mouth.

'_Always so blunt are we?_'

"You should because I have nobody else to turn to." Kyouya pushed his glasses lightly to the bridge of his nose.

'_Not that I ever tried to find any._'

Haruhi did not know whether she should feel happy or sad to know that she was Kyouya's last resort for the current matter.

Finally she only managed to ask, "What makes you think that I will accept your request, Senpai?"

"I guess the fact that you don't have any _other_ options in this matter suffices enough to be my reasoning, Haruhi. At least for the time being..."

Kyouya shot Haruhi a calculating look and pushed his glasses once again.

Haruhi frowned slightly upon hearing Kyouya's explanation. There was more than exasperation in her voice as she asked, "How can it be possible for me _not_ to have any options on this matter? It's a ridiculous kind of answer, especially since it comes from you, Senpai."

Something inside Haruhi squirmed with uneasiness when she saw Kyouya smirking for the second time that morning upon hearing her words. She knew exactly what Kyouya Ootori was _capable_ of before they lost all contact. Judging from the smirk on his face at that exact moment, she could only guess, at least for that devilish part of his, he still had not changed.

"I understand that your contract for this place will end by the end of this month, Haruhi?" stated Kyouya in an oddly light tone.

Haruhi noticed that the guy was not exactly answering her previous question. Yet knowing him, Haruhi did not feel the need to ask on how he could possibly know such trivial matters like her apartment contract. For instance, even when that day was supposed to be their first encounter after almost one and a half years she knew that he always had his contacts and means to get whatever information he wanted anyway. She just inwardly hoped that it was only a mere _casual_ remark from a close friend who had not seen her for quite a long time.

She decided not to ask further on why it was important for him to know the due date of her contract. It was obviously the _least _of her worries on hand at the moment.

"So? What's that got to do with me having no options to reject you on the matter, Senpai?"

"Nothing. It's just out of _curiosity_, I guess." Kyouya stared intently at the beautiful face in front of him.

Somehow Haruhi had a very bad premonition about this.

--

In one quick glance, Kyouya knew that everything had remained unchanged in Haruhi's apartment. He knew it very well that she was not the type of person who liked drastic changes to ever happen in her life; in some ways it was just like him. However, he also knew that both of them also happened to be those kinds of people who would live through the changes; no matter how _hard_ or how _extreme _those changes might be.

Still, he could not help but feeling inexplicably warm inside his heart when his gaze stopped at a wooden bookshelf just around the corner of the small living room. Unlike the rest of the furniture inside the small apartment, the bookshelf looked extremely extravagant and out of place, almost like it was _not_ designed for such an apartment to begin with.

Kyouya stared at it for a couple of seconds longer before he averted his sight to anywhere else but the bookshelf and never took a second glance at it anymore.

He ended his gaze on his surrounding to his now sleeping son on his lap and caressed the boy's raven hair delicately. For a fleeting second, without Haruhi even aware, something very much like sadness and a tinge of regret appeared on his handsome feature, replacing his usual calculating look and detached aura.

Suddenly his voice broke in the sudden silent that hung in the air when Haruhi decided to make some coffee for both of them.

"About your previous question, Haruhi; I think I will give you my answer now," said Kyouya almost casually although his expression lucidly showed otherwise. He knew perfectly well that it was almost impossible for Haruhi to hear his words clearly when she was still in the kitchen like that.

And just like Kyouya had predicted; Haruhi could not hear what he said properly. His voice was somehow muffled by the sound of water boiling from the kettle.

"Sorry, I can't hear you, Senpai. Could you wait a sec? Coffee will be ready soon," shouted Haruhi from the kitchen.

Kyouya only smiled and continued with his words as if there was no interruption from Haruhi; very much like he was pretending that he had not heard her previous words at all.

"You will accept my request in the end, because I know you would never let my son have no mother. Like you or me. Like _us_. I guess this reason alone is acceptable enough to be the ground of my request, Haruhi."

By the time Kyouya spoke the sentence, his expression was unfathomable.

Still it was too late for him to cast out a secret thought that had already lingered inside his mind for almost two years now.

'_Along with the fact that I want to give myself a second chance, Haruhi_.'

--

"Where do you want to go, Senpai? You haven't even drunk your coffee yet," asked Haruhi. Slightly surprised when she saw Kyouya was already standing. He had rested his still fast asleep son on his chest and prepared to leave.

"Thanks for your offer but I think I have to go now. I'm already late in giving Hajime his morning milk," refused Kyouya politely.

"Oh… I see," Haruhi stuttered a bit.

She still was not sure how to give a proper response to Kyouya every time he talked about his son. At the moment, the realization that Kyouya had a son was too new and too sudden for her to give any thoughts about it. It did not help her at all when the guy himself did not even care to explain any kinds of details about the kid except that he named him Hajime Ootori.

As they reached the doorway, Haruhi opened the door for him and asked Kyouya casually, "Eh, what did you want to say when I was in the kitchen, Senpai? I'm sorry; I did not quite catch your words back then."

Kyouya only chuckled a little and merely said, "I just noticed that you still keep that bookshelf, Haruhi."

"Eh?" replied Haruhi in astonishment. She never thought that Kyouya would bother himself to ask such an unimportant question, especially after they had not seen each other for quite awhile.

She merely titled her head just like what she did earlier and added, "Shouldn't I keep it, Senpai?"

When Kyouya heard Haruhi's blunt answer he could not resist from chuckling quietly. His chuckles broke into silent laughter and finally in between his laughs he answered, "I guess you _should_, Haruhi."

* * *

_**2 years 4 months 23 days before….. **_

_**3rd Music Room**_

"_Haruhi, where do you think you're going? Our meeting has not even started yet," asked Kyouya. He pushed his glasses cautiously and gave the girl his usual calculating look. He had to halt his typing once he saw from the corner of his eyes that the girl in question was standing up all of a sudden after they had spent the last half an hour in such dreadful silence inside the oddly empty 3rd Music Room. _

"_I'm sorry, Kyouya-Senpai. I just remembered that I have to go to the stationery shop first before heading home today and I will be very late if I have to wait for the meeting," replied the girl in a matter-of-fact tone. She stared back at the guy whom gave her the utmost menacing glare from behind his expensive laptop without showing any signs of fear. _

_As far as Haruhi concerned, she had given him the most reasonable reason for not being able to attend that particular afternoon's meeting, especially when there were no signs that it would begin any moment soon. Therefore, it never crossed her mind that Kyouya would sound his disapproval over such simple matter like a mere one day absence from the meeting. It was not like she missed the actual hosting activity earlier that day anyway. _

"_Care to explain the exact reason on why you have to go to a stationery shop when you obviously always get generous supply of any kinds of stationeries you ever need from the host club in the first place?" Kyouya's tone sounded dangerously impatient although his handsome face was still as impassive as usual._

"_Well, I need to buy a new bookshelf since the old one I have was broken when I tried to put more books onto it yesterday," explained Haruhi still with the same tone as before. _

"_I never heard of anyone buying a bookshelf in a stationery shop before. Do they sell those kinds of things in there anyway? Don't you think a furniture shop would be more _appropriate_ for you to… ah… buy a bookshelf, Haruhi?" asked Kyouya as he let his curiosity get the best of him. Honestly, he would never get used to Haruhi and her commoner antics. _

_Haruhi smiled and her big amber eyes seemed to be twinkling brighter than before as she explained, _"_No, I just want a simple basic bookshelf. It's always so expensive and very impractical for me to buy that kind of thing in a furniture shop. Besides, they also charge a large delivery fee which will only make me waste more money if I buy it in there."_

"_I see…" said Kyouya as he returned his attention back to his laptop once again. _

"_So, can I go now, Senpai? Please help me to tell the others that I will see them tomorrow. Where are they anyway? Why are you the only one around in here today?" Haruhi glanced around at the empty 3rd music room, as she realized that they were the only people in there. _

_Without her noticing, Kyouya's lips curved into a smirk as he replied,_ "_I guess they're late. I only suspect__ that they have picked up your habits rather well for this particular matter." _

_Haruhi merely raised her eyebrows questioningly. _

_Yes, it was true that sometimes she came late whenever host club activities took place. _

_Okay, it probably wasn't only sometimes but it was definitely not _that _frequent to make the rest of the host club members infected by her tardiness all of a sudden. However, she knew better than to reply to the sarcastic remarks from Kyouya. From her experiences so far, if she ever dared to reply him with even a mere harmless retort over such trivial matters, she could expect an amazing raise in her debt by no later than the next day after she first committed the offence. _

_She merely shrugged a little and began to walk away from Kyouya with light steps._

"_Well, see you tomorrow then, Senpai…"_

_Kyouya stopped typing almost instantly as soon as he heard Haruhi's words._

"_I recall perfectly well that I never agreed about you leaving early for today, Haruhi," Kyouya snickered, his onyx eyes looked a shade darker by the time he stared at the aghast-looking Haruhi. _

"_But…" muttered Haruhi hesitantly. She pouted her lips slightly and clearly showed reluctance on having the possibility to experience another pointless row of arguments with the shadow king. _

_There was a strange gleam flickering for a moment in Kyouya's onyx eyes before he spoke once again, "By the way, what do you think if I give you an _interesting_ offer, Haruhi? You only need to answer me with a _'yes'_ or '_no'_."_

_Haruhi inhaled deeply before she grumbled, _"_Do I have an option _not _to listen to your offer, Senpai?"_

"No."

_Haruhi sighed and shook her head in an apparent disbelief. It was true that Kyouya Ootori was _not _known as the Shadow King for nothing after all. _

"_Well, I'm listening," said Haruhi at last. _

"_You see, I happen to have some old bookshelves that I have never used at home. You can pick the one that you like and I will get someone to deliver it to your house without any fee like those _ungrateful_ furniture shops. It saves your time, effort and ah… of course… _money_," Kyouya smirked as though he considered his own sentences to be particularly amusing. _

"_Why do you have to offer me with something like that of a sudden, Senpai? What's your real plan? Oh, don't tell me that you __actually_want_ to raise my debt again?" Haruhi looked very flabbergasted upon the thoughts of Kyouya raising her debt again for the umpteenth time. As far as she could remember, she had not responded to him with anything blunt or sarcastic for the whole day. _

"_Ah, it hurts me greatly to know that you have such a deep misperception about me. I'm not _that_low__ to take advantage on you for such a small issue, Haruhi." Kyouya chuckled softly when he finished speaking. _

"_Well, I'm really sorry for asking such things, Senpai. I guess I just can't shake off the impression that you're always scheming _something_ to increase my debt," stated Haruhi a little bit guilty with her _subjective_ judgment about the devil king. Yet something in the way he chuckled made her unable to erase the thought that the offer from him would not be as simple as it might seem. Still, in the end she decided that she was probably merely thinking too much over nothing. _

_Kyouya chuckled again and said a little more friendly than usual, "That's an interesting point of view I must say, Haruhi. I assure you that_ this time _I have no ill intentions, okay?"_

_A warm smile appeared on Haruhi's beautiful face as she gave Kyouya's words a second thought before she replied, _"_Well, I suppose so. When can I go to see them then, Senpai?"_

"_Tomorrow will be perfect since it is Saturday anyway. You can come to my house, say, around 5? We can have dinner and watch some of my DVDs _together_ as well if you like. Furthermore, I will ask my maids to prepare some ootoro for you." Kyouya pushed his glasses slightly and continued typing on his laptop as though he was merely glad to end the dullest conversation ever. _

_Upon hearing the word Ootoro, Haruhi sighed a little and replied almost dreamily, "That's a perfect idea, Kyouya-Senpai. I hope I'm not giving you any troubles because of this."_

_Without leaving his sight from the laptop in front of him, Kyouya only answered disinterestedly,_ "_No need to get too work up over this simple thing, Haruhi. Now, can you help me calling the others? We need to start the meeting if we want to go home before sunset." _

"_Okay."_

_-- _

_**Several minutes later...**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

_There was a faint smile etched on Kyouya's handsome face as he recalled the previous conversation he had with the most clueless girl he ever met. Soon after he had reassured himself that nobody especially the very same girl he just thought of was in the proximity, he pressed one of his speed-dials on his cell phone. _

_And without waiting for the person on the other line to greet him first; he spoke in a firm tone, "Buy all kinds of bookshelves that you can find in both stationery and furniture shops now, Tachibana. Make sure that you get all of them before I reach home this afternoon." _

_Kyouya stopped his sentence to listen to the reply from the person on the other line. _

_Shortly, he spoke once again with more impatience and aggravation hinted on every word he said, "_Yes_, I just said stationery shops and _yes_, you did not mishear me. Buy them from both stationery and furniture shops. Don't make me repeat the sentence again. Ah, and also don't forget to tell the maids to prepare ootoro for dinner tomorrow." _

_-- _to be continued --

**A/N:** Finally I was able to finish the first chapter. I hope you will like this. Please give me your comments, reviews, and feedbacks. I will always appreciate them.

Million thanks for those who have read the _overture _of this story, especially for those who gave me their reviews.

To: **firedragongirl**, **KYOYAfan**, **jHeyTTernallie**, **complicated love**, **fruiti-chan**, **wiwionly**, **Disella**, **chinpunkanpun**, **fzelda**, **…**, **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot**, thanks a lot for your reviews!! I love to hear that you like this story.

**P.S.** I am so sorry Kaylah-Chan, I only uploaded the edited version today. I am such a scatterbrain; I forgot where I saved the file. Thanks a lot for your kind help. This chapter flows nicely because of your editing.


	3. Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I only own the plot of this story.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_-- __**Two **__--_

Haruhi Fujioka stared at the letter in her hand with great disbelief. No matter how many times she took her time to reread it, she still could not find any good explanations that might help her to explain the absurdity of the sentences stated in there.

Sighed frustratingly, she glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and decided to clarify the matter with the sender who was liable for her distress at the moment.

However, before she had a chance to grab her jacket, she could hear a soft knock on her front door.

Haruhi never had any guests coming to her house before with the exception of the host club members. And she remembered it vividly that none of them ever mentioned returning to Japan any time soon. Furthermore, she also never mentioned her address to any of her classmates in the university so far. It was not like to keep her life as a secret or something, but currently she felt much more comfortable to have a fine boundary between her personal life with the academic one she had.

Then a sudden thought hit her. Could it be… _him_?

Kyouya Ootori never came to her house again ever since he returned back to her life only around two weeks ago. Furthermore, he did not bother to call, SMS, or even looked for her in the university. It was as if his sudden visit to her house last time was only a fragment of her dream.

Even until now Haruhi still was not able to sort out her feelings towards his sudden came back. Yet when she realized that somehow he was no longer the same person that she used to know; an uncharacteristic pang almost like sadness emerged in her heart. She could not decipher the probable cause why she felt that way and she was even more unsure whether she really wanted to know the reason behind it in the first place.

However, she was surprised and for some unknown reasons, she felt a little bit disappointed when she opened the door only to find the person standing behind the door was not the one whom she secretly hoped to see that night.

--

Haruhi blamed her stupidity awhile ago for thinking that Kyouya Ootori would be the one visited her and had not even thought the possibility for Mrs. Harada, her landlady, to be the one to come to her place. She should have expected that she would have gone to her apartment especially considering the fact that she had sent her such a surprising letter beforehand.

"Good evening, Haruhi-Chan. I am sorry for disturbing you this late. Are you busy at the moment? I need to talk with you about some matters," greeted the plump lady in her usual enthusiastic manners whenever she saw any of her tenants.

"Good evening, Auntie; it's nice to see you. No, I'm not busy at all tonight. In fact, I was on my way to go to your place. Please have a seat," replied Haruhi while gesturing her guest to her living room.

Mrs. Harada appeared hesitant for a second and her cheerfulness almost disappeared at once as she took a quick glance at the letter on Haruhi's hand.

"I assume you have read the letter, Haruhi-Chan. Is that the reason why you want to see me?"

"Um… yeah… Actually I want to ask you about the reasons behind your sudden decision. I know I don't have any rights to actually ask such thing to you. However, my father and I have been staying in this apartment for so long, it's surprising for me to know that suddenly you decided to sell the place," replied Haruhi a little too bluntly.

"Well, I got a very good offer from a very generous buyer out of the blue couple of days back. I know that it's a pity actually to sell this place just like this especially considering the good memories it holds all this while. But I guess all of us have to move on at some point in our life, don't you think so too, Haruhi-Chan?" Mrs. Harada shifted her body uncomfortably and looked somewhat uneasy with her own explanations.

"To be honest, I don't know what to think about that. Eh, are you alright Auntie? You look a little bit pale," asked Haruhi concernedly upon noticing the unusual awkwardness that was clearly shown by her landlord whom took a fleeting second to look around her apartment. She could not help but sighed as she followed Mrs. Harada's action by glancing around her tiny living room which also connected to the kitchen where she had a lot of sweet memories with her late mother.

Haruhi was slightly taken aback by the time she noticed that Mrs. Harada only looked at her pityingly and somehow for reasons unknown to her, her landlady broke into tears.

"I am really sorry, Haruhi-Chan. This is _really _for the best," sobbed the landlady as she mopped her tears with a tissue offered by Haruhi.

Haruhi smiled warmly and spoke in the most comforting tone she could muster, "It's alright, Auntie. I understand your decision and all. Ah, by the way, do you happen to know somebody who is currently looking for a tenant in this block? I like this neighbourhood a lot and I still want to live somewhere around here."

"AH! NO! You definitely CAN'T rent any good apartments around here, Haruhi-Chan. Believe me on this matter," stated Mrs. Harada in an unnecessary loud volume that made Haruhi almost fell from her chair due to shock because of the sudden behaviour change from her landlady.

Mrs. Harada was no longer crying. On the contrary, she looked utterly petrified upon hearing Haruhi's words; as if Haruhi's reaction was not something that she had expected before.

"I'm so sorry Haruhi-Chan, Dear. Did I surprise you? It's not that I am not willing to help you finding a house in this neighbourhood. However, I'm sure you definitely can find a _better _place somewhere else. I mean _he_ already did as far as buying all the apartments and houses around here just to make sure that you won't be able to… eh never mind. What on earth am I talking about… Please don't think any of my ramblings just now seriously, Haruhi-Chan. Old symptoms, I guess…" stuttered Mrs. Harada with apparent guilt and nervous looks mixed on her somewhat pallid face.

Haruhi frowned a little and unconsciously mumbled to herself, "_He_?"

It's like a missing puzzle was finally being found, Haruhi spoke once again with a slightly trembling voice; as if she was trying to restrain herself from getting mad, "Is it possible that you're referring to Kyouya Ootori, Auntie? Is he the _same_ person who's responsible for your sudden decision in selling the apartment?"

For a moment Mrs. Harada looked completely astounded upon hearing what Haruhi just said to her.

"No… Of course not, Haruhi-Chan. How is it possible for a person as important as Ootori-Sama to be interested in such a _rundown_ building like this?" said Auntie Harada hurriedly soon after she recovered from her stupor.

"I see… So what did _he _offer to you as the compensation, Auntie?" asked Haruhi calmly. She titled her head slightly and smile politely to her landlady as if she was only asking about her cat and not concerning to any specific person.

However, Mrs. Harada knew Haruhi better than to believe her tranquil composure. She had practically seen Haruhi grown up and everything about her never went unnoticed. And by now, Mrs, Harada was absolutely certain that the girl was beyond angry and lying to her was definitely a very unwise decision.

Nonetheless, Mrs. Harada had already promised to that young man not to tell Haruhi anything about him. Judging from the way he behaved when she met him around two weeks ago, he seemed like a nice and decent man. Furthermore, seeing the fact that he already went all the way to the point of buying all the houses around the area as well as came up with an unusual request for not letting Haruhi to ever find out that he was the secret buyer; somehow made her felt certain that he had some unspoken feelings towards her young tenant. If it was not because she liked gossips that much in the first place; she would never know that her apartment was not the only one around the neighbourhood that being bought by the very same person with such excellent price. She just could not understand the reason why the young man had to resort up to that extent when he could just simply _straightaway_ tell the girl how he felt about her in the first place.

"I am really sorry, Haruhi-Chan. Please just blame me and my big mouth. I can't tell you anything about this matter more than I already did. I really hope that understand me, Haruhi-Chan," said Mrs. Harada softly. The landlady could not help but secretly wished that Haruhi would not investigate the matter further and made the young man fell into deep trouble because she had failed to keep her mouth shut.

Haruhi sighed; upon seeing the crestfallen face of her usually cheerful landlady she knew that she had no other option than to say, "It's OK, Auntie. I totally understand your circumstances and I will not trouble you further by asking you about this matter. I will be moving out from this apartment by the end of this month as my contract due on that day. Thank you for your help all this time."

Upon hearing what Haruhi just said, Mrs. Harada broke into tears for the second time around.

For a fleeting second, Haruhi thought '_You will pay for this, Kyouya Ootori_.'

--

"Ootori-Sama, there is a young lady who wants to see you urgently. I have informed her to wait for you at the outer living room."

"Who?" asked Kyouya without even bothered to take a glance to the person who just talked to him and continued typing on his laptop.

"It's me; Haruhi Fujioka, Kyouya-Senpai," said Haruhi in a more polite manner and patience than what she normally showed as if she was visiting a bedridden patient instead of a good friend. Without further ado, Haruhi entered the room and walked past the flabbergasted-looking butler only to stand confidently in front of Kyouya. She had been quietly following the unsuspecting butler ever since the guy turned his back around to inform his young master about her presence without him ever aware of it.

The butler looked aghast when he saw her barging in to the youngest master of the Ootori family's bedroom so casually like that. He could swear that he had already asked her to stay put in the outer living room which located just slightly past the main house. Yet judging from the way the girl behaved in front of his young master, she was definitely not a stranger to him. In fact, she must have been quite close with him as none of his master's guests had the guts to go to his chamber totally uninvited.

Since he had worked for quite some time with the Ootori family, he knew perfectly about the youngest master's infamous temperament very well; and disturbing him while he was obviously still busy would be the last option he ever chose if he still wanted to keep his job. He had heard from the previous butlers of the house that his master was not exactly a person who could tolerate any mistakes, no matter how small it was. And now after seeing what the girl had done; he could not help but sweating profusely as he was dreading of the possibilities of losing his current job any moment soon.

For a fleeting second, Kyouya looked very surprised with Haruhi's abrupt coming. However, when he spoke once again he had already returned to his nonchalant self.

"Ah, Haruhi. What pleasure do I owe you to have your company all of a sudden?" Kyouya smirked. He pushed his glasses slightly as he stared at the girl with the same boyish haircut just like the one she had back then when they were still in Ouran High School from behind his expensive laptop.

"I _demand_ some explanations from you on… um… some matters," Haruhi ended her sentence hesitantly. For a moment she felt doubtful on what to say in fear that she might accuse Kyouya for something that was probably unrelated to him after all.

"I'm sorry, Ootori-Sama. I…" the butler's voice was fading away unfinished since he saw Kyouya gestured him to leave the room. The poor man inhaled his breath deeply; obviously felt relieved that he just escaped from his young master's wrath, and bowed his head in a resolute polite manner before he retreated back to his post.

When the butler was no longer around, Kyouya put his laptop away and signalled Haruhi to sit down at one of his luxurious sofa around his enormous bedroom. He seated himself leisurely in front of her and gave the girl one of his rare smiles.

"So? Can you elaborate your question further about… uh… your _demand_, just now?"

Haruhi could catch a faint hint of sarcasms on Kyouya's words. However, she chose to ignore them and spoke quickly before she lost her nerves, "I want to ask you whether you have _anything_ to do at all with the sudden decisions of most of the people in my neighbourhood in selling their properties almost at the same time, Senpai."

Kyouya chuckled softly and said, "I always think that you're the reasonable one among all the host club members, Haruhi. Well, I guess I am prone to make mistake in my judgment; as it has _already_ been proven sometimes ago."

Haruhi could not understand the subtlety behind Kyouya's words nor did she feel intrigued by it at the moment. All she wanted to know was the confirmation from the guy himself whether or not he was the main reason of her current near-homeless status.

However, before Haruhi could press the issue further, a gentle knock could be heard from the outside of Kyouya's bedroom door.

Two maids were appeared shortly behind the closed door; bringing tea and some cookies for both of them. Both maids efficiently placed the trays on top of the exquisite mahogany table, poured a cup of tea for each of them and left the room without uttering any single words or even taking another glance at their direction.

As Haruhi sipped her hot tea, she caught a glimpse of the other trays in front of her and spontaneously murmured, "Meringues?"

She took a good look at the guy sitting comfortably in front of her and could not restrain herself from stating, "I thought you _always_ hate sweet foods, Senpai?"

"Well, that's _before_ a girl told me once that my low sugar intake was the most probable reason why I am feeling grumpy sometimes. She even daringly informed me that these cookies would help me to no longer be … uh… what did she say last time? Ah… _bitter_," Kyouya smirked once again.

After hearing the notions from Kyouya, Haruhi could not help but chuckling a little as if she just remembered something very funny. Unabashedly, she took one caramel-colour meringue from the tray and ate it blissfully.

"Well, what do you think, Haruhi? Do you _still_ see me as a bitter man?" asked Kyouya while he was quietly staring at the girl before her and a hint of smirk was visible on his handsome face as he noticed how the girl enjoyed eating the cookies.

Haruhi almost choked on her cookies upon listening to Kyouya's sudden and unexpected question.

Left with no visible answer, Haruhi simply replied the guy's unordinary question with, "I am not very sure, Kyouya-Senpai."

Kyouya laughed very hard as though he found her response to be downright _funny_. She was Haruhi after all to give him such direct answer; so far nobody but her had dared to give him any kinds of straightforward replies to whatever he said.

Finally, after regaining his composure back Kyouya said a tad too seriously, "I guess it means that I will still need to eat a lot more meringues then."

Haruhi sighed and said, "I'm not coming here to discuss with you about the cookies, Senpai. I just want to know the truth whether you're the one behind my problem at the moment."

"Is it _really_ that bad to leave that apartment, Haruhi?" Kyouya asked gently with his onyx eyes staring intently at the girl who was sitting in front of him.

With Kyouya looking her like that, Haruhi could only inhale her breath deeply and replied meekly, "That is _not_ the point of this matter, Senpai. Truthfully, I like that apartment a lot and it never occurs to me that I will have to move out from there so soon. Not to mention how stressful I am because of the fact that I am going to be homeless by the end of this month. Yet, I can't think of anyone else but you who will be more than able to make such drastic changes to ever happen in my life all of a sudden, Senpai."

"I see…"

Haruhi did not know what to expect from Kyouya; but what she did know was the fact that she hated herself for being such an insensitive girl upon seeing the expressions etched on his flawless face. It looked so remorseful and unlike Kyouya she had known before.

"I am sorry, Kyouya-Senpai. I did not mean to be so harsh to you just now. I swear I never tried to accuse you or something. Just tell me that you did not have anything to do with my problem and I will believe in you, Senpai."

"Do you know the other name for meringues, Haruhi?"

"Eh?"

Haruhi confused with the rapid change of the conversation. She did not know the importance of the cookies, but apparently Kyouya thought of it as something that was definitely worthier to muse over rather than defending himself against her arguments just now.

"The other name for these meringues is '_forgotten cookies_.' And it's just like an irony; to realize that some things in life you could _not_ just simply _forget_ that they ever happened no matter how hard you tried or how many forgotten cookies you ate all the while," stated Kyouya in a matter-of-factly tone. His expression was unreadable and his eyes were hidden behind his bangs.

"And to clarify your suspicion about me; you're right all along, Haruhi. I _am _indeed the person to blame for your current state."

When Kyouya suddenly raised his head to see her after he finished his sentences; Haruhi noticed that his eyes glimmered with something that she never saw it existed in there before.

Haruhi stared exasperatedly at Kyouya and she could only muster to ask, "What did you do that for, Senpai?"

"To make you _stay_ here with me, Haruhi."

* * *

_**2 years 7 months 9 days before….**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom**_

"_Aaaah… Poor mother… Look how terrible his state is now," cried Tamaki too overly dramatic upon looking at the sleeping figure of Kyouya._

"_Tono, you will soon be like him if you stick your face that close to the Demon King," shouted Kaoru mockingly. _

"_I never knew that Kyou-Chan could fall sick. Did you know that, Takashi-Chan?" Hunny glanced inquiringly at his cousin who stood quietly next to him._

_Mori only nodded slightly upon hearing Hunny's word and looked at the figure that was still sleeping soundly in the huge bed beside him. _

"_It's so much unlike the Demon King to fall sick like that. Don't you think a demon like him supposed to be immune to any kinds of human illnesses, Kaoru?" asked Hikaru to his twin while tapping Kyouya's face daringly; obviously thinking that the guy was still deep in his sleep to notice what he had done to him at the moment. _

"_However _this_ Demon King will definitely want some _paybacks_ once he regained his health. Now can anyone explain the current situation to me especially on why all of you daringly entered my room without asking my permission first? Who has given you the right to come to my room this freely? I will surely be more than happy to _sack_ the person responsible for this," grunted Kyouya with an obvious anger shown on his usually collected face. _

"_Um, I'm sorry, Senpai; it's actually my idea; a bad one, I guess. But I thought since I've noticed the door to your room was slightly open; it would be much simpler for us to wait until you woke up in here rather than in the living room. That place is too far from here anyway which only makes us unable know whether you have woken up or not," replied Haruhi without even thinking twice. All she ever wanted at the moment was to prevent a possible havoc from happening to them once she saw the dark expression looming on Kyouya's face._

_Kyouya was astonished for a moment after he heard what Haruhi just said. However, he restored his composure in almost no time when he darkly snapped, "Why on earth are you coming here and disturbing me in the first place?"_

_The rest of them except Haruhi, who was currently still staring at the guy with a great interest rather than fear, released relief sighs after knowing that Kyouya did not pursue the matter further. _

_To tell the truth, it was actually Tamaki's idea to wait inside Kyouya's room in the first place. However, Tamaki did not know how Kyouya would react if he explained the real situation to him. Thankfully, Haruhi was quick not to mention foolish enough to explain such blatant lies to Kyouya before the shadow king could dig into the matter further. Yet to be honest with himself, Tamaki also could not help but wondering whether Kyouya had realized that Haruhi was just throwing the stupidest fib straight to his face._

_As a smart person, even with one quick analysis Kyouya knew that Haruhi had just lied to him. It was too obvious even for the most idiotic person on earth to know that she was lying in the first place since his room was located in the furthest wing of the mansion while the inner living room was positioned right in the centre of the house. Thus, it would only mean that it was definitely impossible for them to see his bedroom from the living room since it was way too far let alone to know whether the door to his bedroom was open or not. But somehow he chose not to mention his findings to any of his friends as soon as he saw the strange twinkles in Haruhi's big amber eyes when their eyes accidentally met. _

_Hunny chirped merrily; obviously tried to fill the thick atmosphere around them with something much more cheerful to talk about, "Of course we have to come today since it is Valentine's Day, Kyou-Chan. We will never celebrate this special day without you."_

"_Yes, that's true, Mother! If you can't attend Valentine's Day at the host club then it's only logical for us to bring Valentine _directly_ to you," added Tamaki in his usual excited manner._

_For the second time around, Kyouya did not know what to say. He should expect things like this to happen especially when a person like Tamaki Suoh existed in his world. However, he was also wondering whether it was because of his fever that made him softened and not yelling to all of them or even worse; kicking all of them out of his room as soon as Tamaki and the rest of them blabbed about the importance of Valentine's Day or because he just realized that Haruhi was the one who took all the blame for all the commotion that the rest of the host club members had made so far. He knew it somehow that it was not Haruhi's type to suddenly feel curious and open his door without his permission beforehand especially when she obviously knew that he hated to be disturbed when he was sleeping. It was more like Tamaki's type than hers was anyway. Yet somehow he could not shake off his minds from mulling over the reasons behind her decision to do such thing to no avail. _

--

_Finally, Kyouya only replied coldly, "What do all of you want from me? Please make it quick and painless then leave my premises immediately."_

"_Ah, Mother. Where's your Valentine's spirit? The day is not over yet for us to have some party here and celebrate love. Well, of course don't forget the most important thing as well: exchange presents!!" cheered Tamaki dramatically. _

_Normally in the past, every year Kyouya would refuse any kinds of chocolates from anyone including his own sister Fuyumi and celebrating Valentine's Day with a party would be a laughable concept for him back then before the host club was established. _

_Yet he knew this year would be different for him since the host club had planned to have some activities to celebrate the day. Nevertheless, much to his relief, he fell sick just one day before Valentine's Day this year and he indeed considered his poor health at the moment as a blessing rather than a condemnation. He surely did not like the idea of people being so mushy to each other for a whole day long. Furthermore, eating chocolate always remained as a nightmare for him since he always hated all kinds of sweet foods. The sweeter the foods the more he disliked them. _

_When Kyouya finally thought that he could spend the day peacefully while reading a book or two to make him forgotten about his sore throat, runny nose, headache and the slightly feverish feeling he had ever since the day before; all of the host club members apparently had come to a decision to suddenly show up inside his bedroom totally uninvited. _

_Kyouya could only curse himself inwardly to stupidly forgetting the most important fact that his best friend Tamaki Suoh was one of the mushiest people alive on earth that he happened to know. Leave it to him to change his supposed to be recuperating time into some sorts of _exhilarating_ slumber party. _

_--_

_Kyouya could only rub his temple impatiently in a vain attempt to brush off his now worsened migraine. He should have known that this day would come sooner or later after he became a friend of Tamaki. _

_Much to his annoyance, apparently the other members also started to feel the same way as Tamaki and began jeering and cheering with him while taking out all the party supplies so fast that Kyouya could swear they were coming out from nowhere. _

_However, when Kyouya thought that all the insanity that was ongoing inside his room should be stopped before it could affect his mental health, he incidentally glanced at the corner of his room. He could not help himself but chuckling lightly when he saw the twins busily forcing Haruhi to wear a bunny-girl costume which came in a set with its ear and pink round tail. _

_And somehow for some odd reasons that he preferred not to think at all; for the first time in his life he thought that Valentine's Day was not _that_ bad after all. _

_--_

"_Tono, we think now is the most appropriate time to give the present to Mother," said Hikaru and Kaoru at the same time._

"_Waaaa… present…" exclaimed Hunny joyously._

"_I guess you're right, boys. Let's give the presents to your mother now!"_

_Kyouya could only shake his head tiredly; he could never understand why he was still able to keep his sanity intact while he was constantly being surrounded by people like Tamaki, Hunny or the twins._

_He could swear that by the time all these people leaving his house; he would definitely be allergic to anything in _pink_ for the rest of his life. He was too horrified to give any comments upon noticing that all the gifts from the host club members were wrapped in all the shades of that particularly girlish colour._

_He could only mumble frustratingly upon receiving those gifts that all of his friends were more than happy to place them at his lap, "I don't have any gifts to exchange with you guys, so you can keep those things to yourself. Besides, I always hate _all_ kinds of sweet foods."_

"_How can you be so ignorant with my feelings or your children's feeling, Mother?" sobbed Tamaki from the corner of Kyouya's bedroom; looked as dejected as ever._

"_Senpai, this is my gift. I hope you'll like it," said Haruhi; completely ignoring the faint sobbing sounds from the corner of the room._

_Kyouya sighed deeply and stared at Haruhi in disbelief for a fracture second before scowled,_ "_Oh, no… Not you as well, Haruhi. I always think that you are the sanest one among all these people."_

"_I don't think sanity has anything to do with giving gifts, Senpai. However, it's perfectly okay for me if you do not want it. I don't want to force you to take something that you're unwilling to accept in the first place," said Haruhi in a matter-of-factly tone with her head titled slightly as if trying to decipher his current expression. There were neither sarcasms hinted in her tone nor disappointments apparent in her beautiful face. It was almost like she had suspected that he would refuse any kinds of gifts given to him that day in the first place._

"_Haru-Chan made her presents all by herself and even incidentally burnt some of her fingers because of that, Kyou-Chan. You're hurting her feelings by saying such insensitive things like that," stated Hunny in his usual childish tone although his face somewhat saddened. Kyouya merely suspected that it was probably because of his unsympathetic remarks to Haruhi a moment ago. Yet he regretted his insensitiveness almost at once when he caught a glimpse of Haruhi's heavily bandaged fingers before she hid them behind her back as soon as Hunny pointed at her direction. _

"_Ah, I am perfectly fine, Hunny-Senpai. And don't feel bad just because you're grumpier than usual, Kyouya-Senpai," retorted Haruhi quickly._

_The twins snickered upon hearing Haruhi's words and Hunny seemed like struggling to suppress his laughter. _

"_Why did you say such things to mother, Haruhi-Chan?" asked Tamaki disapprovingly._

"_Well, low sugar level always affects people's mood, Tamaki-Senpai. And now knowing the fact that Kyouya-Senpai dislike all kinds of sweet foods in the first place, it's only logical for me to think that it is one of the reasons why he always looks grumpy from time to time," explained Haruhi serenely while smiling sweetly to Kyouya._

_Kyouya chuckled softy upon hearing Haruhi's blunt words. It was always amusing to hear her explaining things with unscientific arguments like that. Actually, he could easily retort her with the fact that Hunny always ate more than enough sugar for the portions of 10 normal adults; yet he also had a tendency to be grumpy whenever he was being woken up. However, for some odd reasons unknown to him; he opted to leave the matter to rest in the end._

_Still chuckling serenely, Kyouya said, "Well then, just for this time I will accept all your gifts as long as they're not_ too _sweet."_

"_But Mother, how about the gifts from the girls in the club? They asked us to pass their chocolates to you."_

"_I think Hunny-Senpai will be more than happy to receive them on my behalf. We can't refuse the gifts from our clients because that will obviously hurt their feelings."_

_Haruhi shook her head quietly. Everything related with Kyouya always _strictly_ meant for business. And seeing what she brought for him, it was definitely something that would fall under the category of _'too sweet' _for Kyouya Ootori._

_Thus, without bothered to take a glance at Kyouya, Haruhi quietly put her gifts away together with all the gifts from the girls in the host club and placed them neatly at the table nearby; just in front of the settee where Hunny and Mori sat currently._

"_Hey, Haruhi… I thought you brought that stuff as _my_ present. Why did you have to pass it to Hunny-Senpai?" asked Kyouya a little bit surprised upon seeing what Haruhi did awhile ago._

"_Well, I thought you hate sweet foods," replied Haruhi simply._

"_Well, I don't like things that are _too_ sweet. However I still can eat chocolate since I assume it is not _really_ that sweet anyway," answered Kyouya a little bit too quickly. Somehow he could not help but feeling oddly disappointed with Haruhi's voluntary willingness in giving away the gift that was supposed to be his to Hunny without even asking his opinion first for that matter._

_Haruhi cleared her throat uncomfortably before saying,_ "_That's the problem, Kyouya-Senpai. My gift is really… _sweet_."_

"_What do you give your mother anyway, Haruhi-Chan? I thought it was supposed to be the same chocolates with the ones you gave _us_ this morning." There was a hint of jealousy in Tamaki's voice that went unnoticed by Haruhi. _

"_Well, I don't give chocolate to Kyouya-Senpai…" muttered the girl in a low voice. _

"Why?"_ all of them except Mori and Kyouya asked Haruhi at the same time, which made Kyouya thought inwardly that even Philharmonic Orchestra, would be proud of upon hearing their spontaneous synchronization._

"_Because he has enough bitterness _inside_ him to last forever and it will not help him at all to eat something as bitter as chocolate," stated Haruhi to nobody in particular._

_The twins laughed very hard upon listening to what Haruhi just said and Hunny did not try to suppress his laughs anymore. Even Mori's face broke into a faint smile._

_However, Tamaki looked anything but happy upon hearing Haruhi's rationalization. Almost sounded like he was thoroughly envy with Kyouya; he abruptly said, "But there are a lot of different kinds of chocolates in the world, Haruhi-Chan. And I am _absolutely_ sure that a lot of commoner shops also sell sweet chocolates anyway."_

"_Well, from what I've read so far, the_ real _taste of chocolate supposed to be bitter, Tamaki-Senpai. That's why I don't think it will be suitable for Kyouya-Senpai." Haruhi answered simply as she took a glance at Kyouya before gave him a friendly shrug. _

_Tamaki only scowled and looked somewhat dejected. He totally disliked hearing the explanations from Haruhi and realized almost all too sudden on _where _things might possibly be going between Haruhi and his best friend._

_However, his grimace turned into curiosity almost instantly when the twins shouted happily to Kyouya, "Open Haruhi's gift, Mother!"_

_All of them were speechless by the time Kyouya opened Haruhi's gift._

_None of them opened their mouths until Kyouya decided to ask, "What are these?"_

_Before Haruhi could answer, Hunny had already explained on her behalf, "Those are meringue cookies, Kyou-Chan and I guess it's correct when Haru-Chan said that they're sweet. Believe me when she said sweet, it means really… really… _SWEET_."_

"_Oh," replied Kyouya tentatively while staring suspiciously at the neatly arranged meringue cookies inside the pinkish round box that he put on his lap shortly after he put aside all the gifts from the other host club members into the empty space beside him._

"_Well, I guess if mother doesn't want to eat them, I still have some empty spaces inside my stomach," stated Tamaki much more cheerful than before when he saw Haruhi's gift and tapped his stomach gently; as if he already made up his mind that Kyouya would never eat those kinds of cookies in the first place._

"_Don't you dare to think _that_, Tono. We would like to eat them as well," retorted the twins heatedly._

_As if he did not want to be left behind, Hunny also added the current commotion with, "My bunny also wants some meringue cookies as well, Kyou-Chan. Right, Takashi-Chan?" Mori nodded almost at once. _

_All of the uproar ended almost abruptly when Kyouya announced with a slightly louder and more hoarse voice than usual, "I _never_ said that I don't want to eat these."_

_--_

_**Later on that evening...**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom**_

"_Kyouya, I thought you have already looked much better this morning when I left you. Why did Takagi-Sensei inform me that your condition seems getting worsened when he ran a check-up on you this afternoon?"_

"_I'm OK, Fuyumi. It's not a big deal," croaked Kyouya in a barely audible voice. His voice was so hoarse that almost sounded like he was uttering some words from an unknown language._

_Fuyumi looked utterly bewildered upon hearing her brother's hoarse grunts._ "_Oh my God, what's wrong with your voice? I thought you're only having a common cold."_

"_Nothing's wrong. Don't bug me; I want to get some _actual _sleep when I am alone at last."_

"_What's that?" asked Fuyumi curiously and pointed at the pinkish round box on the side table next to Kyouya's magnificent bed; completely ignoring her brother's request to leave him alone._

_Before Kyouya could stop Fuyumi from taking the box; she swiftly took it and grinned at her brother. She was very happy to see Kyouya not being able to get back at her due to his head-splitting migraine once in awhile since normally he would not let her joke around with him._

_When Fuyumi opened the box, she could see that there was nothing inside except one single cookie._

_Fuyumi could not hold back herself from asking her brother, "Meringue cookies? Don't tell me that you're nibbling the whole box when Takagi-Sensei has clearly stated that you have to avoid spicy, oily and sweet foods before you're completely recovered from your flu."_

"_I am not _nibbling_ anything, Fuyumi. Just leave me alone, OK?" answered Kyouya a little bit too quickly that made him coughing badly as the result._

"_Honestly, Kyouya. I don't know what's wrong with you. All this time I always thought that you hate _all _kinds of sweet foods. It's totally idiotic for you to devour the whole box of meringue cookies out of the blue especially when you're obviously unwell. You never even wanted to try any of my cookies I made especially for you before just because you said they're_ a little bit _too sweet for your taste. Why do you _like_ to eat these _sickeningly_ sweet kinds of cookies all of a sudden anyway, Kyouya?" Fuyumi shot an exasperated look at her youngest brother before shaking her head incredulously._

_However, much to Fuyumi's bewilderment; she could swear that she just saw her brother smirking as if he found her remarks just now to be particularly _funny.

_As though that was not enough, Fuyumi was left speechless and more than utterly astonished upon hearing what his brother said next._

"_Yeah, I _wish_ I could say the same thing to the _manufacturer_," said Kyouya hoarsely in between his severe coughs._

-- to be continued --

A/N: Wow, this chapter was definitely longer than what I've expected before. If you think it's too long, I will try to make my future chapters to be shorter than this. Just let me know what do you think.

Please don't forget to leave me your reviews and comments for the story.

Thank you so much for all of you who have been reading this story; especially those who reviewed me.

To: **Death by Squishy**, **-Sapphire-Onyx-**, **wiwionly**, **Cole Adams**, **KYOYAfan**, **Blossy**, **Tatacolt**, **jHeyTTernallie**, **chinpunkanpun**, **UntamedHeartofKyouya**, **CrazyFaucet**, **f-zelda**, **innocent school girl**, **BlackBlaze**, **tif**, **Hooplahs**, **AnaChi-chan**, and **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot**; thanks for all your reviews… you're really made my day merrier!!


	4. Three

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I only own the plot of this story.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_-- __**Three**__ --_

Haruhi Fujioka shook her head in disbelief as if trying to inject some senses into the words that she just heard from the man sitting comfortably on the expensive-looking settee in front of her.

It was not a daily routine for Haruhi to hear any of her friends asking her to move in with them let alone to hear it from a person whom she just met again only two weeks ago after they had lost contacts for so long. To make things worse for her; Haruhi also realized that the person who gave her the offer apparently was also capable of doing _anything_ to make sure that she did not have any other option than to agree with his own one-sided decision. He had already done as far as buying all the houses and apartments around her area and with his power who knew what he might do _next _if she had the guts to decline his offer.

She should have known better that her life would never be simple let alone organized like what she used to have ever since her host club days were over when she entangled herself with a person by the name of Kyouya Ootori. Haruhi realized that the guy was _anything_ but simple and a mere commoner like her certainly could _never _predict his actions no matter how hard her attempts were.

**--**

"It is not a funny to throw such a bad joke in this kind of situation, Kyouya-Senpai," stated Haruhi after she finally recovered from her shock. She was very much unwilling to look at the person whom she just spoke to. In the past couple of minutes, she had been trying to avoid looking at him when she noticed that the guy still continued staring at her with such intensity that evident in his onyx eyes. Yet when her gaze accidentally met his; those eyes had caught her and somehow she seemed like lost in it; as if she was inside turbulence with no visible way out.

"Well, it was not supposed to be a joke, Haruhi. So I guess it's only normal for you not to find it particularly… _amusing_," replied Kyouya patiently; almost as if he was trying to teach a very stubborn toddler how to read alphabets.

"How can you possibly do such thing in the first place, Senpai? What's wrong with you anyway? I fail to understand the purpose of you doing things as far as buying all the houses and apartments in my neighbourhood merely to make sure that I will agree to stay at your house," said Haruhi exasperatedly after Kyouya's words had pulled her back from her reverie. She had been known as a slightly emotionless girl ever since she was young. However, this kind of situation had forced her to take out every single emotion she did not even know she had them before.

Kyouya chuckled softly by the time Haruhi stopped throwing her tantrums; as if he found her frustration at that moment was particularly hilarious. Yet his eyes somehow showed the other way around. Haruhi could swear that for a moment she saw a glint of unfamiliar sadness in that pair of onyx eyes. However, when he spoke to her once again the emotions were no longer visible on his face; replaced by his usual aloof self.

"As what I've mentioned to you when I visited your apartment last time; I want you to be Hajime's nanny. And needless to say, you're right from the very beginning, Haruhi; I _am_ indeed a person who is capable of doing almost _everything_ to get what I want. Thus, before I am sure that you accept my request; I do not care even for the slightest to what extent I will have to go in order to prove my point to you. Just like what I've said to you previously; you don't have any other options than to agree with me for this matter, Haruhi," stated Kyouya in a firm tone. He never left his eyes from Haruhi even for a fleeting moment; as though he was really trying to decipher the meaning behind her expressions upon hearing his words.

"And let me assure you, Haruhi; there is _nothing_ wrong with me. On the contrary, I never feel more _right_ about anything other than this before," added Kyouya. His trademark smirk reappeared on his handsome figure by the time he finished his last sentence.

Haruhi let out an audible sigh. She felt her head almost split into two only by listening to Kyouya's intriguing answers. It was utterly ridiculous to hear that a person would do anything to make her the nanny of his son. But then again, it was Kyouya Ootori who proposed such ridiculous thing in the first place. And seeing the absurdity of everything that related with the host club or any of its members through the eyes of commoners like her; Haruhi knew that she could not expect any less than _insane_ reasoning for her current situation from him.

"What do you actually expect from me, Kyouya-Senpai? You know it very well that I have no knowledge whatsoever about children and I don't really have much time on hand to really learn those stuff as well. Besides, do you truly believe that my father will agree with me staying at your house of all places?" replied Haruhi at last. She did not know how to give a proper response to Kyouya without sounded too blunt or sarcastic anymore. She was even more clueless on how to change the guy's mind or how to explain to him that she would certainly be the worst candidate for his son's nanny that he could possibly find.

Yet her sarcasms were only being shrugged off unconcernedly by Kyouya at the following moment as he spoke in a smooth voice, "Don't let yourself drowning in such _trivial_ thoughts, Haruhi. I have already got more than enough nurses and maids to take care of Hajime's wellbeing. The only thing I ask from you is to simply spare some of your.. uh... _precious_ time for my son by staying here in this house."

Kyouya smirked slightly when he added, "Of course you don't need to be worried about your father, Haruhi. He could not be more than ecstatic to know that you will be living in here soon. You can't blame him though; your father really _should_ be worried with her daughter living alone in this big city especially when the crime rate's increasing _tremendously_ these past few months."

Upon listening to what Kyouya just said, Haruhi could not help but cursing herself instantly for thoroughly forgetting the most important fact about her father. Ranka always adored Kyouya to the extent that he never saw the necessities of explaining anything to her as long as it involved that guy in the first place. Thus, it was not that hard for her to believe that her father would be more than relieved to let her living under the same roof with him anyway. She should have seen that one coming especially when her father often uttering his worries that his precious daughter had to live alone in a _big_ not to mention _dangerous _city every time she called him.

Haruhi took a deep breath as she asked, "Why does it have to be me? I don't understand you at all, Senpai. How can you _possibly_ hire a person like me as your son's nanny when you _obviously_ know that I don't even know the how to act as one? What I do know is that your son deserves somebody _better_ than me. I am sure you can find somebody with both skills and qualifications for the job."

Much to Haruhi's surprise, there was a sincere smile on Kyouya's flawless face when he replied, "I believe that I do have the right to choose what's best for Hajime as long as he's still under my care, Haruhi. And what I do know is that I don't want anyone other than you to be his nanny. It really doesn't _matter_ for me that you don't possess either skills or qualifications for the job."

Something in Kyouya's words really ticked off Haruhi. It sounded as though Kyouya needed her because who she was and not what she was capable of. But on the next second, her brain told her that she might have been thinking too much. The Shadow King she knew all along would never do unnecessary things unless there were merits to be gained. And as far as she could think of, he would never have any benefits of any sorts by hiring such an inexperienced girl like her as the nanny of his son.

Haruhi sighed heavily once again before she spoke with much gentler tone, "Honestly, Kyouya Ootori; since when did you become a dictator like this?"

And Kyouya did not even try to conceal his laughter when he replied, "Then I take it as you have accepted my offer."

"Do I have an option _not _to accept your offer, Senpai?" asked Haruhi helplessly. She knew it all along that rich people like Kyouya could be very pushy sometimes and clearly could not accept '_no_' as an answer.

Upon hearing what Haruhi just said; Kyouya could not help but smiling sincerely. Her rhetorical question just now had reminded him with the one that she gave him when he offered her a bookshelf in one afternoon during their host club days. The only difference back then was probably the fact that things were always much simpler than what they had at the moment. However, probably it did not matter anyway knowing that she was Haruhi after all. He knew it very well that to a commoner like her; things about him and his society would always remain too complicated to comprehend by her logic in which had made her gave up trying to understand them at all in the end.

With that thought, Kyouya chuckled slightly and said, "I'm afraid my answer is still a '_no'_, Haruhi."

--

"Do you need any further assistance from us, Fujioka-Sama?"

Haruhi startled slightly upon hearing somebody spoke from behind her. She turned around only to find a man with black attire and a pair of black sunglasses staring at her.

Upon noticing that he got the girl's attention, the man bowed slightly and waited for her response.

Haruhi sighed and glanced around at her now already empty apartment before she replied, "No, I think that's about all. Thank you so much for all your help today."

"It's our pleasure to be at your service, Fujioka-Sama," the guy bowed for the last time before leaving the place.

Haruhi sighed quietly; after all the years she had spent with the host club, she still had not accustomed to all kinds of courtesies. And to realize that starting from that day onwards she would be living with one of the richest and most influential families in the world; she knew sooner or later she had to get used to all sorts of formalities once again no matter whether she liked it or not. Somehow thinking about that fact alone had made her feeling oddly exhausted.

However before she could say anything; another guy with the same attire as the previous one appeared at her doorstep and spoke succinctly, "Ootori-Sama is waiting for you on the other line, Fujioka-Sama." Shortly after that, he handed over a black cell phone to Haruhi. Without further ado, the guy left her alone inside the room muttering darkly at the expensive cell phone in her palm as though trying to let go some of her frustrations before talking to the person on the other line.

--

Haruhi took a deep breath before trying to speak with the most cheerful tone she could muster at that time, "Hi, Senpai. How can I help you?"

On the other line, she could imagine vividly of Kyouya smirking over the phone as he spoke casually, "Nice try, Haruhi. Why do you have to let yourself feel depressed on such a big occasion like today?"

"I am not depressed, Senpai. Why should I? Anyway, what pleasure do I _owe_ you to have your call all of a sudden, Kyouya-Senpai?" replied Haruhi bluntly; mimicking Kyouya's sarcasms couple days back when she was still at his house.

To add Haruhi's irritation further, Kyouya did not bother to conceal his chuckle as he answered, "Ah, I'm just checking on your… um… _packing_. So, have you got everything ready?"

"It did not need much time for me to finish my packing actually as I don't have _many_ things to pack to begin with. However, since you _obviously_ have found the necessity of sending the entire Men-in-Black brigade to be my movers today; it's not surprising if the people in this neighbourhood start thinking that I've been hiding my _real _job as a secret agent. Of course all _thanks_ to you, Senpai," stated Haruhi through gritted teeth.

It was really very depressing indeed for Haruhi to notice that people began to gather around the apartment ever since Kyouya's men arrived at her place together with an 18-wheeler truck. She did not know why the guy got the impression that she would need him to send her a big truck like that in the first place. It was not very easy for the truck driver to reach her apartment since the streets around there were quite narrow as they were obviously not being designed for any kinds of big-sized cars let alone an 18-wheeler one.

And it really did not help the situation much when all the guys that Kyouya sent showed up at her doorstep wearing black attires with manners that would only be suitable if they were acting in some action slash thriller movies rather than being her movers for the day.

Seeing all those excessiveness; Haruhi could not really blame her neighbours for asking her whether she was attempting to flee out of the country because her cover had been blown up somehow. The only person she could actually blame for all the unnecessary uproars was obviously _herself_. After all this time, she really should have known better than to ask a multimillionaire like Kyouya Ootori for a simple help such as moving her things to his house for instance. In the first place, she should have understood by then that simplicity would never exist in the autobiography of Kyouya Ootori.

--

Kyouya was still smiling when one of his assistants informed him that he got a video call from no other than his best friend Tamaki Suoh. To be honest, Kyouya did not even know whether he and Tamaki still could be considered as best friends like they used to be back then in their high school days. They had no longer kept in touch ever since the day both of them graduated from Ouran and no sooner than that their relationship drifted apart along with the passing days. And the most tragic part of it was the fact that none of them really tried to rekindle their loosening friendships or closed the distance between them that seemed to appear out of nowhere without they ever realized it.

Yet it was not a big surprise for Kyouya to have a call from his best friend out of the blue like what he did at the moment. In fact, he had been expecting Tamaki to call him earlier than that. And somehow, Kyouya knew the only reason that could make his best friend called him all of a sudden like that; Haruhi Fujioka.

--

Upon seeing Kyouya's face on the screen; Tamaki Suoh did not bother to tone down his volume level and immediately spoke in a very impatient manner, "Kyouya, I've heard what you've done to Haruhi-Chan and I must say that I am not happy with it _at all_."

"Well, nice to see you too, Tamaki. I could only assume that Paris suits you rather well since it helps you to speak with such straightforwardness that I used to find it… ah… _lack_… in you…" replied Kyouya calmly.

Unlike Tamaki, Kyouya still looked as nonchalant as ever and only stared his best friend with his usual calculating look; as if nothing had changed between them and none of the days passed by without them talking to each other.

"Stop talking those kinds of nonsense, Kyouya. Tell me what is your actual plan that makes you drag Haruhi-Chan along?"

"Ah, since when did we lose our _usual_ honorific terms as father and mother, Tamaki? I can barely recall when the last time you referred me as mother was." Kyouya smirked.

"I am not in the mood to joke around with you, Kyouya. I don't know what you're up to by asking Haruhi-Chan to be your son's nanny or whatsoever stuff you have obviously _made up_ to convince her in the first place. What I do know is that you have to stop it before anyone gets hurt because of your actions," stated Tamaki in a more dangerous tone than before.

"I know what I'm doing, Tamaki and I don't need you to baby-sit me or Haruhi for this matter. And just to let you know; I will never _allow_ anyone hurting Haruhi. You know it perfectly well that I do care about her as much as you do… or even _more_ than what you can _imagine_," said Kyouya with tones that were much more serious than the ones he used before. At that moment, his eyes were gleaming with indescribable emotions; very much the same with the one that his best friend was showing currently.

"I trusted you before, Kyouya; even when everything had to end not in the way it was supposed to be. Yet you never really bothered to explain to any of us for everything that you did all along. Don't tell me you did not realize that you had already hurt all of us when you walked out on us that day," said Tamaki with an edge in every word that he spoke.

"I never walked out on anyone… but _mine_…" whispered Kyouya in a barely audible volume. Once he finished his sentence, Kyouya stared at his best friend with sadness still visible on his impeccable face.

Tamaki frowned. He could not hear what Kyouya had just said, however from the remorseful looks that still lingered on his handsome face; he could only assume that his best friend had a valid reason for whatever he did last time. Still, it did not mean that he could just easily forgive him after he had abandoned their friendships just like that. Furthermore, what the point of a friendship really was when there was no honesty and trust in it after all.

Finally the blonde guy spoke in a softer tone than before, "At least you could try to explain to me the reasons behind all the things that you did last time so we can _mend _them and start everything all over again, Kyouya."

Kyouya laughed cynically almost instantly upon hearing Tamaki's words; as if he could only hear sarcasms hinted in each of them. And much to Tamaki's astonishment, Kyouya looked hollow and empty when he stopped his laughs just about as abrupt as when he started it.

By the time Kyouya opened his mouth to speak again; his voice was dreadfully cold and distant, "Between the two of us you're always the naïve one, Tamaki and I am sorry I have to destroy that perfect little dream of yours since it's a friend's job to tell the truth, isn't it? Let me tell you then, my dear friend; _nothing_ can ever be mended once it's already _shattered_ and _broken_."

Tamaki's eyes widened; he was more than surprised to hear such response from Kyouya. He knew that his best friend could be sceptical in seeing things most of the times but he never heard him sounded that lonely and dejected.

In the end, Tamaki shook his head sadly. "You've changed into somebody that I _no_ longer know of, Kyouya."

However before Kyouya could say anything, Tamaki spoke once again; as if he suddenly remembered something very important, "I'm just wondering whether it has _anything_ to do with Reina Nakashima, Kyouya."

It was as if Tamaki had incidentally pushed the wrong button when he chose to mention something _forbidden_, which made Kyouya roared with a voice full of hatred and disgust, "I told you once before; don't ever mention that name again as long as I still live, Tamaki Suoh!"

Without waiting Tamaki to reply, Kyouya turned off the screen in front of him at once and stormed out of the room with an apparent anger etched on his flawless face.

* * *

_**1 year 7 months 21 days before…**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

"_Mother, what took you so long? I've been waiting for you downstairs for God knows how long. The meeting has already ended for more than an hour and yet you still linger in here. Didn't you ever notice that everyone's already gone?" said Tamaki in a loud voice as he barged into the 3rd music room only to find Kyouya still busily typing something with his laptop. _

"_Yeah, I noticed that," answered Kyouya curtly without taking a glance at his best friend. _

"_So why are you still typing? Come on, you still have tomorrow for goodness sake. It is not necessary to rush everything in one day. It will only make you grow wrinkles before you even reach your 20th birthday, Mother," replied Tamaki as he sat on the empty chair next to his best friend. _

_Kyouya halted his typing. He stared at his best friend who by then was busily drumming his fingers impatiently against the desk next to him for a couple of seconds before he said, "I need to finish this by _today_, Tamaki."_

"_Why? What are you typing anyway? Is it really that important?" asked Tamaki as his eyes glanced over the monitor before Kyouya with great interest. _

"_Yes, it's very important, at least for _me_." Kyouya continued staring at his best friend whom could not help but frowning deeply upon _hearing_ his somewhat cold reply. _

_Kyouya sighed before added in a lower voice, "I'm typing my resignation letter, Tamaki."_

"_Yeah… yeah… yeah… you can finish typing yo… What did you say just now?" Tamaki stuttered almost hysterically after a sudden realization of what Kyouya just said hit him. _

"_I _quit,_" repeated Kyouya simply. His onyx eyes were hidden behind his jet-black bangs._

"_Hahaha… That's not funny at all, Mother. Honestly, haven't you learned it by now that you don't have any flair in throwing jokes, Mother? It's simply horrible. Thankfully, you still have time to practice your skills before April Mop," replied Tamaki cheerfully as he tapped Kyouya's shoulder amiably. _

_However, Tamaki's cheerfulness ended almost abruptly when he saw Kyouya still staring at him with an unfathomable expression etched on his handsome face. _

_When there was still no reply from Kyouya, Tamaki could not help but starting to feel anxious. His expression was somewhat less cheerful than usual as he hesitated, _"_Why don't you answer me, Mother? It's a _joke_, right?"_

_Kyouya answered in a barely audible voice; yet in the empty music room where they were at the moment, that volume had served more than enough to be heard by his best friend, "Regretfully I am _not_ joking, Tamaki. I mean it when I said I quit just now. I quit from the host club. And I also quit from _anything_ relating with it altogether." _

_Kyouya returned his gaze to his laptop and started typing once again as if nothing had happened. After a painful silent a couple of seconds later, without leaving his eyes from the monitor of his laptop; Kyouya continued, "Starting from today onwards, I am _no longer_ a member of the host club, Tamaki." _

"_What do you mean by you're no longer a member of the host club, Kyouya? Our membership is valid for a _lifetime_. You also clearly know that we always consider Mori-Senpai and Hunny-Senpai as the members of our host club even when they're no longer with us in this school anymore. The real purpose of the host club is for us to be friends _forever_ no matter where we are in later parts of our lives, Kyouya." said Tamaki seriously; there were no more smiles shown on his normally jovial face. _

_Without both of them ever realized it, Tamaki had unintentionally dropped the nickname he saved only for Kyouya for the first time ever since Haruhi became the member of the host club. At that moment there was nothing more important for Tamaki than to change his best friend's mind. However, neither of them had foreseen that day as the last day he ever called his best friend with that special name he gave him. Starting from that time onwards, their friendship gradually changed and no longer the same like it used to be. _

"_There is _nothing_ in the world that can last _forever_, Tamaki. Even with your naïveté I believe you also know it." _

"_No, there are many things that are _timeless_ and _our_ friendship is definitely one of them. I understand that you feel a little bit overwork with all the preparations for the Tokyo University's entry exams lately. You can take a break from the club as long as you want to. Let me handle all your tasks in here so you can have your study peacefully. You can come again when you feel much better," snapped Tamaki hotly as his bright-colour eyes skimmed through the figure of his best friend; as though he was looking for hidden clues behind Kyouya's sudden resignation._

_Kyouya did not give any replies to his best friend. He only looked at Tamaki for a couple of seconds longer before he stood up and gathered all of his belongings quietly. _

_Just before Kyouya left the 3rd music room; he still could hear Tamaki shouted at him in a firm tone, "I'll be waiting for you in here, Kyouya. I will never accept your resignation. Not now. Never. And if you know me well you will also realize that there's no way on earth I will let you walk away from me and the rest of us in here like this."_

_Kyouya continued to walk away without even glancing back at Tamaki to see whether his best friend was following him or not. He knew that idiotic blonde guy would not leave the room anytime soon especially when he still failed to grasp the reality behind what he just said a moment ago. _

_To be honest, he found it very hard to believe it himself. He never wanted to accept the fact that it was really him who have just said that he wanted to back out from the host club. He knew perfectly well that once he admitted the fact; he would have to face the consequences that he would no longer have _anyone_ beside him anymore._

_With that thought, an image of a girl who dressed up as a boy came vividly to his mind as an understanding began to sink in to his heart. Starting from that day onwards _it_ was the _closest_ thing he could ever have from her. _

--

_**Nearby the Parking Ground – Ouran High School**_

"_Ootori-Kun, I've been waiting for you. I know that you're still around since I still saw your limousine in the car park awhile ago."_

_Kyouya froze on the spot upon recognizing the source of the voice that had awakened him from his stupor. _

_Inhaled his breath and kept his nonchalant façade intact, Kyouya continued walking towards the direction where his car was parked; completely ignoring the girl whom just spoke to him._

_Yet it seemed that the girl did not mind even for the slightest bit on the cold response she just got from Kyouya. She continued walking only slightly behind him and smiling happily. Her cheek was slightly blushing when she added, "I brought you an umbrella since it's raining out there. You'll get wet if you don't use any umbrella to go to the car park, Ootori-Kun." _

_However, Kyouya still did not show any kinds of inclinations that he heard the girl and resumed his walk with a faster pace than before. _

_Seeing that there were no visible possibilities that Kyouya would response to anything that she said, the girl hastily grabbed the sleeve of the long black coat that Kyouya wore that day to catch his attention. _

_Kyouya's steps halted almost immediately and turned around abruptly to look at the girl whom have been talking to him for the first time in that entire afternoon. _

_Somehow the girl could not hide her gasps upon seeing the expression engraved intensely on Kyouya's gorgeous face. It was full of hatred and repugnance; as if she did not have any values in his eyes to begin with. _

_Before the girl could utter any words, Kyouya bent his body slightly as if he wanted to whisper something to her. The scenery alone would look like a scene that came out straight from a romantic story if only Kyouya did not emit malice in every word that he hissed to the girl's ear, "Don't you dare to _touch_ me ever again, _Woman_. I am going to make sure myself that I'll give you a _retribution_ that you surely deserve."_

_As soon as he finished the sentence, Kyouya walked away from the girl and furthering away from the parking ground where his limousine was parked. _

_He did not even bother to turn around to see the girl anymore. But yet he still could hear what she said at last before the voice from the raindrops drowning her words, _"_My name is _Reina Nakashima_ and never addressed me as _Woman_ ever again, Kyouya Ootori! You know perfectly well that you're no longer able to run away from me _anymore_…" _

_--_

_Kyouya did not know how long he had walked through the heavy rains or how far he had left the parking ground that day. He could not care less for anything anymore. To him, everything had lost its meaning ever since he walked out from the 3rd music room earlier that day. _

_Kyouya had shouted to his chauffeur to leave him alone to no avail. He knew that his current state must be awfully bad to make his chauffeur took a risk of losing his job by keep on offering him to get in to the car, bringing him an umbrella, or even sheltering him with the umbrella that he had rejected previously when he did not give any slightest inclinations that he had noticed his offers. _

_It was still raining heavily as he kept on walking pointlessly with his chauffeur following him in a frantic manner from behind. The raindrops felt like piercing his bare skins yet it was not as hurtful as what he felt inside his heart. _

_The last sentence from Reina still kept on ringing inside his head no matter how many times he tried to shunt it away. Deep inside, Kyouya knew that she was saying the truth; he had faced a turning point where he was no longer able to escape from her anymore no matter how hard he tried. _

_Upon that thought, Kyouya instinctively ran as fast as his tired feet could muster; leaving his flabbergasted chauffeur behind. He no longer cared where he was heading to or how much longer his weary feet would be able to run. For all he knew, once he stopped running; he no longer had the life that he always wanted since he had sealed his own not so long ago. _

_After what it seemed like forever, Kyouya finally stopped his steps. He stared at the greyish cloud that still hung low in the vast sky of Tokyo, which continued pouring out water to the ground and also to his flawless face. _

_He wanted to throw his frustration away but he was too tired to think of any ways to do that. In the end, Kyouya only managed to shout out loud; releasing his long bottled up emotions while his gaze was still fixed at the murky sky above him. In between his shout, once again he saw the same exact image of the girl who dressed up as a boy that he just saw playing in his mind only for what it seemed a moment ago. Yet this time, her image was slowly fading as if it was slipping away together with the falling raindrops; leaving his bare face filled with nothingness. _

_And without warning, water that was not originated from the rain escaped quietly from the corners of his eyes. In that dreary afternoon, for the first time in his life; Kyouya Ootori let himself _cry.

-- to be continued --

**A/N:** Finally this chapter's finished.

Thank you for all of you who have been reading this story and especially for those who have been giving me their reviews. I love you guys!!

**To:** **Sophie**, **CrazyFaucet**, **BlackBlaze**, **hariseldon**, **wiwionly**, **Topaztok**, **Lady Isis Rose**, **jHeyTTernallie**, **tif**, **InLoveWithKyouya**, **innocent school girl**, **KYOYAFAB**, **Death By Squishy**, **flameblessed**, **-Sapphire-Onyx-**, **Jmai**, and **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot**, thanks a lot for all your reviews. I really appreciate them. Cheers!!


	5. Four

Disclaimer: Ouran does not belong to me.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_-- __**Four**__ -- _

Kyouya had stood next to one of the magnificent windows inside his bedroom for hours yet he never showed any signs of weariness. He fixed his gaze at the scenery in front of him, which revealed a small part of the extravagant park surrounding the Ootori mansion. Hatred had enclosed his onyx eyes even before he threw his bedroom door open; yet at the same time, a tint of unexplainable sadness for some reasons also lingered in there.

He still could feel a devastating rage built up inside his chest, which was slowly diminishing the other emotions that he had. Somehow he no longer knew or care to whom he actually aimed that anger at in the first place. The one thing he knew was the fact that it was unreasonable for him to blame others about his miserable feelings when all along he perfectly understood that the one who was responsible for his downfall was none other than himself.

Kyouya sighed deeply. He just could not believe no matter how hard he tried to forget about everything; the past still kept haunting him in the end. The fact that he was still being affected very much only by hearing that woman's name had clearly shown the reality in the hard way that he was not ready to reveal the truth and relive all the pains he had to endure all the while.

Truthfully, he also realized it very well that Tamaki did not mean anything bad with his question. All along Kyouya knew that his best friend was always so naïve, direct and plain; far from all pretences. He was everything that he never had and never would. Sadly, he still remembered very well like it was only yesterday that there was a time back then when all the host club members were still in Ouran, where everything hadn't been so complicated; Haruhi once told him that she could see some similarities between him and Tamaki. Strangely, part of him really wanted to believe in what she said at that time since it would make him feel somewhat more… _humane_.

And somehow he could not help but wondering whether Haruhi's impression of him that time would still be the same when she finally found out the reality that he had carefully hid from everyone. Until that day, his mind constantly refused to think about the possibility that Haruhi would never see him in the same way as she always did when the day she discovered the truth finally came in the end.

When he was still pondering in his own thoughts, he could hear a soft knocking sound on his door. After he informed to whoever standing outside his bedroom that his bedroom door was not locked, two nurses walked inside his room with one of them carrying Hajime in her arms.

"We're sorry to disturb you, Ootori-Sama. But Hajime-Sama was crying and looking for you since he woke up from his afternoon nap," said the nurse timidly. She knew from Kyouya's darkened face that it was not an appropriate time to see him. However, she had no other option since Hajime was crying non-stop and kept looking for his father.

Kyoya's eyes softened when his gaze fell to his son's small figure who was struggling to break free from the nurse's arms as he was trying to reach him.

"Pa-pa…" mumbled Hajime happily when Kyouya put him on his lap as he seated himself at the end of his magnificent bed. When Kyouya took a better look at his son, he still could see traces of tears on his chubby cheeks. Upon noticing those tears, Kyouya instantaneously caressed Hajime's wet face and kissed both of his cheek gently.

At that moment, Kyouya realized no matter how bitter or regretful he was when he learnt that things went not in the way they were supposed to be; part of him was glad that at the point when he had forsaken everyone, he still had Hajime with him.

--

For the umpteenth time that day, Haruhi sighed. She was standing still in front of the grand mahogany door; the main entrance of the Ootori Mansion, for more than 10 minutes, yet she still could not decide whether or not she should enter the house.

It was pretty illogical for her to feel a little bit uncomfortable with her own decision that she had made previously. All along she always saw things from the perspective of practicality and would stick to everything that she had set before. Yet there she was, staring stupidly at the door as if trying to find invisible signs whether or not she had made the right choice by agreeing to stay with Kyouya starting from that day onwards and work as Hajime's nanny.

Before she could decide further on her next action, a deep male voice startled her.

"Well, I am sorry to disturb you from your daydream, Haruhi. However, I am very _curious_ with what you are doing at the moment. You see… my staff will start to think that you have a crush on my door or so seeing the way you look at it for the last couple of minutes. It's a pity since I have to remind you that my door hasn't changed into human form yet to be able to feel the same way as you do." Kyouya smirked. He was carrying Hajime in his arms whom by now was busily mumbling some happy incoherent words in his arms.

If Kyouya did not actually experience it himself; he would never believe that a simple commoner girl with lack of apparent emotions like Haruhi could simply ease off his troubled mind just by her mere presence. When he noticed her surprised look that was clearly shown on her beautiful face at the moment; he could not stop his heart from fluttering slightly for some reasons unknown to him.

"God, you're surprising me, Kyouya-Senpai. I was clearly _not _staring at the door, it's just that I haven't decided yet when was the appropriate time for me to go inside," said Haruhi as if she was explaining the obvious.

Still smirking, Kyouya simply stated, "I see. So have you _made up_ your mind or shall I give you more time to seek for an answer with the help from my front door?"

At that time, Haruhi really wanted to wipe off Kyouya's smirk from his flawless face. It was practically annoying for her to see him that calm and exhibited his smirk freely like what he did at the moment especially when she had come thas far only because of his absurd request in the first place. However, she knew Kyouya very well that whatever replies she gave him would only make him laughed at her even more and she surely would never give him that satisfaction.

In the end, Haruhi chose to ignore him and merely looked at Hajime instead.

Unsure on what kind of appropriate conversation that she could possibly make with the kid, Haruhi shook Hajime's small hand and only managed to say, "Hello, Hajime-Chan; starting from today I will be your nanny… um… or your friend? By the way, you can call me Haruhi."

Much to her annoyance, the only response she got for her attempt in making a decent conversation with Hajime was definitely not coming from the kid himself but the father instead.

Kyouya was almost literally bursting to tears when he laughed very hard upon noticing what Haruhi was trying to do with his son.

"Wow, I never knew that you have such talent to be a comedian, Haruhi. It's the first time I see a person greeted Hajime in such … ah… a very _original_ way. I must say that it's a very refreshing concept in greeting my son."

"There's nothing wrong with what I did just now, Kyouya-Senpai. Or else what should I say to introduce myself to Hajime then? And for your information, I was only trying to be polite to your son. I hope Hajime will not be influenced by you that much or he could be a real headache just like his father," retorted Haruhi still a little bit annoyed.

"Yeah, actually there's nothing wrong with all those things if only my son could understand what you're trying to say or do," Kyouya stopped and laughed once again before he added, "You see… just for… ehm… your information… my son has not even celebrated his first birthday yet."

Upon reaching the large golden handle of the marvellous mahogany door, Kyouya chuckled softly as though he thought of something particularly amusing.

"So, you consider me as a real headache, huh?"

--

When Haruhi finally walked inside the house following Kyouya closely from behind him, she was still muttering some inaudible complaints, which clearly showed that she was not happy hearing the shadow king's explanation a moment before. She did not know that Hajime was not even 1 year old since judging from the appearance of the small boy she would definitely guess that he was at least 3-4 years old or so. However seeing Kyouya's tall and well-built figure, she should have realized it before that Hajime had inherited not only the handsome face of his father but apparently also the genetics part that influenced his height. Besides, she would have known if Kyouya had a kid when they were still in Ouran, wouldn't she?

Finally, more for her own defence and satisfaction; Haruhi had concluded that the main reason of her embarrassment a moment ago was due to the fact that she never got any up close and personal kind of relationship with kids in her entire life before. Thus, it's only normal for her not knowing what to do whenever she was around him so far. It's all Kyouya's mistake to begin with since he was the person who had insisted in hiring her as his son's nanny in the first place and did not even bother to listen to her arguments that she never had any proper knowledge and experience in dealing with children before.

"This is your room, Haruhi," said Kyouya with a faint smirk still lingered on his flawless face, "And no need to worry about you not having any clues about my son. Like what I have mentioned to you before; believe me, the reason why I'm making you as Hajime's nanny is totally _not_ based on that."

"Geez, thanks a lot for your _enlightenment_, Senpai. You can't imagine how I really feel so much _better_ after hearing it," replied Haruhi bluntly; somehow relieved that they were no longer in Ouran where Kyouya could just add up some figures on her debt whenever she made derisive remarks about him.

She just could not believe that after hearing her sarcasm, Kyouya still looked completely unabashed and simply watching her with great interest and a hint of his trademark smirk still could be seen in his handsome face as if she was some sort of live-entertainment to him.

However, upon seeing the room in front of her Haruhi had forgotten all her annoyance towards the guy whom by now was leaning leisurely against the doorframe with his son was cuddled securely in his arms.

The room was too exquisite for her taste. It had a nuance of yellowish green just like her favourite colour as if Kyouya had prepared since long time ago for this room to be hers one day. She could not help but smiling a little soon after she recognized her wooden bookshelf along with all her thick textbooks standing at one corner of the room.

"What do you think, Haruhi?" asked Kyouya. He chuckled softly upon seeing the astonishment on Haruhi's face since the first time he opened the door.

"I honestly don't know what to say, Senpai," replied Haruhi meekly. She stared Kyouya with her big amber eyes sparkling strangely which almost made Kyouya forgotten completely on what he wanted to say next.

"Have you ever considered that sometimes a mere '_thanks_' would be more than enough for me, Haruhi?" said Kyouya with a somewhat gentler face as he stared at the beautiful girl with a tinge of boyish look in front of him.

"Eh? What did you say just now, Senpai?" asked Haruhi with a start as she was busily gazing around her new bedroom.

Kyouya chuckled again and said, "Ah, it's _nothing_ important, Haruhi." Kyouya took a fleeting second to look at Haruhi once again before he added, "This room had a connection door to Hajime's room so you can see him anytime you like, Haruhi."

"Ah??"

"Why do I keep getting the impression that you have failed in giving me some of your attentions that I surely deserve here, Haruhi?" taunted Kyouya. He caressed his son's jet-black hair gently with his free hand while he held his son with the other.

"Don't tell me that you're really touched by my efforts in decorating your room?" he continued as he noticed the vivid astonishment in Haruhi's expression from the corner of his eyes and could not hide his mocking grin.

"No, I just could not stop myself from wondering whether all your staff have these kinds of facilities. It's simply unimaginable for me to realize what rich people could do with their money sometimes, Senpai," Haruhi shook her head lightly in great disbelief.

Many times Kyouya was literally amazed with Haruhi denseness however this one went slightly too far, much to his displeasure.

Kyouya tried to maintain his calm composure when he finally spoke once again in an indifferent manner at the same time as his onyx eyes glaring intently at the petite figure standing next to him, "Do you truly believe that I will treat my staff in the same way as I treat you, Haruhi?"

Haruhi stunned a bit by the time she noticed the seriousness on Kyouya's tone and the absence of his usual smirks.

Finally in between her bewilderment she merely replied, 'Well, I don't see any _visible _reason for you to treat me differently, Kyouya-Senpai."

Still with the same serious expression just like before Kyouya spoke in much gentler tone, "How about if I tell you the _only _visible reason why I treat you differently from any other people is simply because _I love you_, Haruhi?"

Haruhi eyes widened for a couple of seconds upon hearing Kyouya's words.

Kyouya loosened his right arm from Hajime just like what he did when earlier he caressed his son's delicate hair and stretched it towards Haruhi's beautiful face. But at the exact moment when his fingers almost touched Haruhi's faintly blushing cheek, much to his surprise he heard Haruhi chuckled slightly.

Haruhi tried to suppress her laughter by covering her mouth with her left hand while letting her right one tapping Kyouya's back gently as she said, "It's the _funniest_ joke I've ever heard from you so far, Kyouya-Senpai; I never know that you've improved yourself quite greatly in that department. This might sound very strange to you but I swear I have a strong impression that something very similar like this has happened before. It's a pity that I can't seem to pinpoint the exact thing."

Upon hearing the response he got from Haruhi for his spontaneous confession awhile ago, Kyouya did not know whether he should laugh, cry or get angry at the girl who had made him living through both heaven and hell ever since the day he met her. He only could hope that despite all the insensitiveness that she always had; there would be a day for Haruhi to finally realize the truth behind the words he said that day.

He was indeed _painfully_ in love with Haruhi Fujioka.

* * *

_**2 years 3 months 15 days before…**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

"_BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, KYOUYA OOTORI!"_

_Truthfully, the shock of the sudden confession that Kyouya suffered at the moment was actually nothing for him if he compared it to the deafening silence that following the words. He was forced to listen to what the girl just said due to the unnecessary loudness of her voice, which made him halted his typing almost abruptly. _

_He could feel that every pair of eyes inside the 3rd music room was boring at his direction and more or less the same to the girl who was responsible for the current situation. Kyouya swept his quick cold glance to everyone inside the silent 3rd music room as though threatening anyone who dared to make even the smallest comment for the scene with a painful death. However, that kind of stare apparently did not work quite as well as what he had expected before. On the contrary, everyone especially his fellow host members seemed to be very interested with what he would do next rather than worrying about the chances of being murdered by the ominous shadow king himself. _

_Unconsciously Kyouya took a double take to check whether Haruhi was around and witnessed the scene. And somehow for some odd reasons he could not help but feeling greatly relieved when he noticed that the girl was nowhere to be seen at the moment. _

_Kyouya returned back his gaze towards the girl in almost no time and tried to mask his surprise with a fake gesture of clearing his throat loudly. _

"_Ehm, I must say that I am very flattered with your… um… _words_ just now, Nakashima-San. However, although I do understand that it is a good _cause_ for the request that you've proposed to me just now, I still could not see it as a good _reason_ for me to accept it." _

"_What do you mean, Ootori-Kun? I understand that you don't feel anything for me since we barely know each other. That's why I want you to know more about me first before you decide whether you'll accept my feelings for you or not. And what's the better way for us to get to understand each other than to designate you as my host?" stated Reina cheerfully. She was not embarrassed even for the slightest bit upon noticing that some of the girls were started whispering enthusiastically among each other when they heard what she just said._

_Kyouya was trying very hard to keep his polite façade intact although to be honest with himself, it was starting to get more difficult the more he listened to the girl. He pushed his glasses lightly and chose the next words more carefully. _

"_Well, for starters; as for now I am not accepting requests from _any_ girls to be their hosts nor will I do that in the near future. I hope you understand that my role in here is much more into organizing and managing the club_ _rather than the actual hosting activities. However, I do believe that I can help you if you want either Tamaki or the twins to be your host for the time being, Nakashima-San."_

"_I don't want anyone else to be my host because I only want _you_, Ootori-Kun. You don't have to feel worry that I might hinder you from your daily activities, I will not stop you from doing your job. You can just do your routines. I only hope that you will allow me to sit beside you so I can help you with your stuff."_

_Kyouya could swear he just heard the twins snickered not very far from where he sat at the moment and he just secretly wished to have some hidden weapons to kill them on the spot for their annoying actions in making fun of him. _

"_I am really sorry to say that my decision is _final_, Nakashima-San. I wish I could help you more on this matter but I am afraid I couldn't."_

"_Why? Are you in _love_ with someone __at the moment?" asked Reina straightforwardly. Her dark amber eyes were staring impassively at the handsome figure half-hidden behind his black laptop. _

_For a fracture moment Kyouya stunned and caught off guards. However, he had returned to his usual aloof look almost instantly and said, "I am afraid that isn't something I would like to discuss _freely _with you, Nakashima-San." _

_Reina sighed and shook her head sadly that made her long and slightly wavy black hair fluttered._ "_It _surely_ sounds that you have _somebody_ in your mind, Ootori-Kun. However, I will _definitely_ not give up that easily."_

_Kyouya did not know what he would do or say next if Tamaki had not come to save the situation that seemed to be getting out of control. _

"_Ah… you have to understand that love never chooses a time or a place to bloom, Mother. I am very happy to hear such a _romantic_ love declaration from a stunning beauty like you, Nakashima-Chan. However, you have to give Mother here an ample time to think about your sudden confession. Besides, what's the fun in love if there is no waiting involved, right?" charmed Tamaki while putting a strong grip to Kyouya's shoulder to prevent him from saying or doing anything that he might regret in the future. _

_Tamaki could feel rather than see Kyouya sending him his infamous death glare on him upon finishing his last sentence. However, he did not have many options rather than giving the girl that kind of reply in order to divert the attentions of all the other clients from his best friend. He was very surprised to see Kyouya almost lost his temper only because of a girl. Still, that's probably because it's not common for him to receive a love confession in front of the public like that in the first place._

"_Nakashima-San, I would be more than glad to have you around with my other princesses at my table there," continued Tamaki quickly while politely kissed the girl's hand. He gestured his other hand towards several girls who were giggling madly upon seeing the romantic move that he just showed to Reina only awhile ago. _

_However, the girl was definitely obvious with what Tamaki did or said since she still continued looking intently at Kyouya. The shadow king himself, on the other hand, did not try to smooth things up with Reina and definitely did not bother to run along with Tamaki's acts, which in the end only made the atmosphere around the room somewhat thickened. _

_After Reina spent a vain couple of minutes to look attentively at Kyouya who kept refusing to either look back at her or even talk something trivial to make her feeling better, finally Reina spoke once again with her voice slightly trembled, "Well, I guess I will be seeing you tomorrow, Ootori-Kun. I hope by that time you will change your mind about me." _

_Reina looked somewhat dejected when she noticed that Kyouya did not even give any slightest inclinations that he heard her and merely returned his undivided attention to his laptop pretending nothing unusual had happened to him that day. _

_Upon seeing the cold shoulder that Kyouya gave her, Reina left the 3rd music room quietly and soon after she had gone, the chatters return back to the 3rd Music Room almost instantly. It was very obvious that Tamaki and the twins were trying as hard as they could to make some light jokes about the dramatic scene that happened only a moment before so that the cheerful atmosphere would soon fill up the room once again. _

_-- _

"_Where were you just now, Haruhi-Chan? You just missed a very good day-drama showing live in here," chorused Hikaru and Kaoru at the same time. _

"_Eh?" Haruhi let out a small yelp as the twins encircled their arms to her thin waist and pushed her towards one of the settee where Tamaki sat at the moment. _

"_You would never believe that your mother here finally has a true _hardcore_ fan, Haruhi-Chan. So far I notice that Kyouya's fans always somewhat reserved and slightly introvert. And it only means that none of them would ever give your poor mother a taste of true puppy love in this high school since all of them were too shy to admit their feelings for him. But now I could feel like the heavy burdens in my chest are finally being lifted up upon hearing her blatant confession just now," explained Tamaki who was clearly beyond ecstatic with his own explanations. He was beaming fondly at his somewhat paler best friend. _

"_I will give you a _real_ burden to talk about if you continue spluttering more nonsense on this matter Tamaki," retorted Kyouya impatiently. Without all of them ever realized, he sent a fleeting look at Haruhi as if he wanted to know her reactions upon hearing what Tamaki just said._

_Haruhi only managed to blink her eyes twice before the twins were literally dragging her once again only this time they led her to one corner of the room. They wanted to ensure that she could watch their very own re-enactments of what had happened in the 3rd music room while she was not around while distancing themselves for as far as they could from Kyouya in case if things turned nasty. At that time, Haruhi did not get any chance to see Kyouya's exasperated look when the guy had clearly foreseen what the twins would do next. _

_After making sure that the three of them were already safe from Kyouya, Hikaru began his acts while grinning wickedly at the guy's direction. _

"_BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, KYOUYA OOTORI!" imitated Hikaru in a very perfect resemblance of Reina while his hand was trying to grab Kaoru's waist. _

"_Oh… your words just like a song to my ear, my dear love. Who on earth could possibly resist your stunning beauty, My Princess?" replied Kaoru; somewhat sounded and acted in a great resemblance of Tamaki. He gave his twin an unyielding embrace while his eyes clearly expressed an undying love. _

"_You should see mother's face upon hearing that confession Haruhi-Chan, it's priceless," chirped Tamaki in his usual cheerful tone as he nodded approvingly at the twin, completely oblivious with the murderous look that etched on Kyouya's face at the moment. _

"_I never knew that it was pretty eventful when I was not around," Haruhi chuckled slightly upon seeing the overdramatic rerun from the twins, the sour look that was clearly shown on Kyouya's face, and Tamaki's obliviousness in reading the entire situation in front of him. _

"_And I will strongly advise you not to dig into this matter further Haruhi or else…" retorted Kyouya quickly while sending Tamaki and the twins his cruellest death glare._

_Haruhi had a strong feeling of what Kyouya might say and could not help but chuckling softly. _

"_Yes, Kyouya-Senpai; I know that if I let slip my opinion about… ehm… your interesting love life…" Haruhi smiled amiably and gazed at Kyouya before she added, "I will have to face an unexplainable inflation on my current debt."_

"_I'm glad you know me that well, Haruhi," replied Kyouya while trying to swallow the bitter feeling inside his chest. _

_However, Haruhi frown slightly as if remembering something; obviously did not hear Kyouya's reply let alone noticing the changes in his tone. _

_On the contrary of what she had just stated to Kyouya a moment ago, she looked slightly curious when she asked serenely to nobody in particular, "By the way, what does she look like anyway?"_

_Kyouya's face went even sourer than before upon listening to Haruhi's words. _

"_Why are you so interested suddenly?" asked Kaoru slightly intrigued. It was quite unusual for him to see Haruhi having a sudden interest to something frivolous like that. _

"_Because when I was in the bathroom to change my clothes just now, a girl was accidentally barging in to my cubicle while she was crying."_

"_What??" Even Kyouya could not restrain from shouting the question out loud together with the rest of the host club members. _

_Haruhi sighed before she continued hesitantly, "And I believe that the girl had seen the _real _me."_

"_What exactly do you mean by that?" whispered Kaoru in horror. _

"_Which bathroom did you go to anyway? Didn't you go to the male's lavatory all the time?" asked Tamaki looked terribly worried. _

"_Well, after the incident with Kasanoda-Kun, I feel more comfortable using the girl's one to change clothes and stuff, besides so far nobody ever noticed me in there. Well, except for today I guess," explained Haruhi indifferently, totally unaffected with all the rackets from her friends. _

"_What happened after that? Did she say anything when she saw you?" asked Kyouya straightforwardly. He pushed his glasses slightly in a pathetic attempt of concealing his sudden uneasiness. _

"_Um… I don't think so; she only looked at me and did not utter any single words, probably because she never saw a girl dressed up as a guy inside a girl's lavatory anyway," replied Haruhi lightly. She did not see that incident as surprising as those times when Yabu or Kasanoda accidentally knew her real gender due to some unfortunate circumstances awhile back. _

_Haruhi just shrugged the matter of from her mind after thinking that at least this time it was _only_ a girl. Besides, she never saw any points in hiding her true identity in the first place. She merely played along with the eccentricities of the host club members to save her from hassle and vain arguments. _

_Inwardly, Haruhi always thought that it was inevitable for her secret to be uncovered sooner or later and it was a miracle indeed for such a lie to stand that time without anyone in Ouran aside from Kasanoda ever noticed it. _

"_We need to know who that girl was, Haruhi-Chan," concluded Tamaki with a very rare serious look on his face. _

"_I hope she did not realize that it was you, Haruhi-Chan," stated the twins in unison in a hopeful tone although the expressions on their faces were clearly stated otherwise. _

_Kyouya did not give any further comments about their current matter. However, he shook his head in disbelief upon seeing the actions from his friends that appeared to be their best efforts to console themselves rather than Haruhi since the girl herself simply never considered the whole revelation thing as important as the rest of them. _

_He did not feel any better when Haruhi simply pointed out the fact that he did not dare to think about in the first place for fear of it becoming a fact rather than only a mere thought inside his own mind._

"_Um, I don't think there's a person in this school who doesn't know anything about the host club members. Still, who knows that anomaly _really_ does exist. Besides, we just have to wait until that girl appears before us. I'm pretty sure that if she's intrigued by what she has seen today she will definitely look for me _sooner _or _later_." _

_--_

_**The following day…**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

_For the second day in a row an abrupt silence swept the 3rd music room all of a sudden since it seemed that everyone inside the room held their breaths at the same time in anticipation of what would happen next. _

_Kyouya did not have to make a wild guess of the cause behind the abnormality of his surrounding since Reina Nakashima; the same person who was also responsible for the clamour the day before had chosen to walk confidently towards his direction. _

_She was smiling joyously and stared at Kyouya with both of her cheeks slightly blushing once she was standing in front of the guy. However, before Kyouya could say anything, Reina had already spoken out her intention with a loud and clear voice that obviously would reach even the furthest nook and cranny of the music room._

"_Ootori-Kun, about my request yesterday…" _

_Kyouya cut her words sharply with his cold reply; somehow did not bother himself to tone down his volume as if he wanted to make sure that everyone inside the room would hear his reply. _

"_If your intention in coming here is to only to ask whether or not I have changed my decision yesterday, then you could just simply forget about it Nakashima-San. I hope you do understand that I have… ah… my own _difficulties_."_

_Much to his and almost everyone inside the room's surprise, Reina only chuckled a bit and answered lightly, "Don't worry Ootori-Kun, although I will never give up my feeling for you just because you reject me this time; I will no longer insist on designating you as my host. I've changed my mind."_

_Before Reina continued, she took a quick glance at Haruhi whom Kyouya had noticed looked somewhat perplexed ever since she saw Reina entered the music room. And when Kyouya noticed a strange spark glimmering in Haruhi's big amber eyes, somehow he felt like he did not want to listen to what Reina would say next. _

_It was as if Reina noticed his wariness; she looked at Kyouya for a moment and gave him a sweet smile before she finally spoke once again, "I want Haruhi Fujioka instead, Ootori-Kun."_

-- to be continued --

**A/N:** And the story goes on….

Many thanks to: **-.-My-.-Imperfect-.-Love-.-**, **BlackBlaze**, **SecretLittleWhiteLie**, **Michele**, **Star Garden**, **wiwionly**, **innocent school girl**, **chinpunkanpun**, **.slytherin thirdalixious.**, **Death By Squishy**, **I-ARE-COOL**, **InLoveWithKyouya**, **jHeyTTernalie**, **CrazyFaucet**, **tif**, **AnaChi-Chan**, **Everqueen**, **fruiti-chan**, **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot**, and **Cole Adams** for all your reviews. I really love your comments guys!!


	6. Five

Disclaimer: Ouran is not mine only the plot of this story is.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_-- __**Five **__--_

"Haruhi-Chan, you will ruin your textbook soon if you keep pounding your ballpoint against it like that."

Haruhi startled and glanced at the person who just spoke to her from the next table; Shiori Ishio, her closest friend in Tokyo University. She was the most energetic and perkiest girl that Haruhi ever met in her entire life that only reminded her of Tamaki Suoh. The main difference between the two of them besides the obvious gender distinction probably was the fact that Shiori was not coming from a family whose business was listed in the Fortune 500.

"Eh?"

"You can see it yourself." Shiori chuckled softly when she pointed out the textbook that was lying on top of Haruhi's desk.

Only in a glance, Haruhi understood what Shiori was trying to say. Her subconscious acts of prodding her ballpoint against the surface of the textbook that she was trying to read the entire morning had successfully created some visible bluish dents on her used to be smooth _Introduction to Law and the Legal System_. Her class had been cancelled first thing in the morning since the lecturer had something urgent that made him unable to teach on that day. As it happened to be the only class she had for the whole day, Haruhi decided to read some chapters that supposed to be the materials for the lesson that morning before she went home or so.

Haruhi could only let out a weary sigh and decided to put the textbook back to her small backpack. It was obviously not a good time for her to read anything related with law or other subjects she took for her first semester in Law Program anyway when her mind clearly had been wandering _somewhere_ else.

"Are you alright, Haruhi-Chan? You look very distracted lately. I notice that you even skipped your usual trips to the library for these past few days," asked Shiori concernedly.

Haruhi only glanced at her best friend for a second before she zipped close her backpack and spoke a little absentmindedly, "Yeah, I've been busy looking for some data in the internet for my research and I've been going to some stores to check the validity of my finding, that's all."

"Hah? Why couldn't you find your materials in the Law Program's library? Surely you know that our _little_ library here has the most extensive range of law related textbooks, right? That's what _you_ used to tell me anyway whenever I tried to save you from that hideous room full with nothing _but_ books," asked Shiori jokingly upon listening to Haruhi's explanation.

Shiori always liked to tease her best friend's habit of going to the library on a daily basis because she never liked staying inside a place that only had textbooks, study materials and nothing else. Thankfully she had an amazing photographic memory thus it never took her long to study anything since young. If not because of that, she could not imagine how she could survive burrying herself in piles of textbooks for weeks if not months for the entry exam to Tokyo University last time.

And as though her phobic of rows and rows of books was not bad enough, all the libraries in Tokyo university also happened to share the same austere restriction in which the visitors were forbidden from making loud noises. Yet sadly, the sole occasion when she could stay quiet was only when she was sleeping. However, Shiori always tried to be supportive with Haruhi's fondness of books and tried to prove it by accompanying her best friend almost every time she went there.

Although at some occasions they had been forced to leave the library mostly because Shiori failed to keep her mouth shut, Haruhi never stayed mad at the girl for long and would forget about it in almost no time. As a result of it, Shiori would still follow her to the library most of the times and things like being kicked out by the Law Program's librarian had somehow turned into some sorts of ritual for both of them.

"Well, my current research has nothing to do with school and all the materials that I want will never be available in our program's library for sure. I'm still considering whether or not I should go to the Medicine Program's library instead."

"Eh?" It was Shiori's turn to feel surprised.

Haruhi did not bother to elaborate her statements further and merely stood up almost at the same time as she grabbed her backpack.

"Hey where are you going, Haruhi-Chan?" asked Shiori slightly bewildered with Haruhi's sudden action.

"Medicine Program's library."

--

"What are we going to do in a library that has no connection whatsoever with our own program, Haruhi-Chan?" asked Shiori slightly panting. For the last few minutes, she had to literally run to catch up with Haruhi's fast pace. She had noticed some apparent changes with her best friend lately and ardently running like that just because she needed to find some data would definitely be one of them.

As far as Shiori knew her these past few months, Haruhi was always slightly ignorant about many things that happened in her life and the wild enthusiasms that she exhibited at the moment was clearly not supposed to be part of her characters in the first place.

"Well, it obviously has _nothing_ to do with you, Shiori since I never expect you to follow me up until here anyway," answered Haruhi calmly and continued walking without even took a glance at her best friend.

"Aw, talk about _bluntness_ here, Haruhi-Chan," said Shiori in a fake upset tone. She had known Haruhi quite well enough to not really take all her straightforwardness by hearts.

Haruhi chuckled softly upon hearing Shiori's words. However, she did not stop her steps and merely replied, "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that. I just need to find some information urgently since I don't have _much_ time left."

"Huh? What kind of urgent information is it anyway? I never saw you putting so much effort for a research before so what's the difference with this one?"

"Well I have to put more effort in this one since it's related with my current job that I'm not yet excelled at it."

"Ah, you mean your part-time job as a nanny, Haruhi-Chan?"

Haruhi stopped her steps almost abruptly upon hearing that particular question. She could not help but let out an inaudible sigh. It was her stupidity in the first place for blurting out the truth about her current job to Shiori only couple of days after she embraced her newfound career. However, it was not particularly easy to hide anything from Shiori's sharp instincts anyway especially after she had caught her red-handed stepping out from Kyouya's limousine only one day after she stayed at his house. Ever since that day Shiori never ceased interrogating her about the details of the limousine's owner since her best friend knew very well that she would never be able to afford a _Honda_ let alone an expensive limousine like that. That's why she had left with no other option than to admit that it was her boss' limousine and that she got _great_ benefits from her current '_job_' which including '_free_' transportation anywhere around Tokyo.

It was all began with Kyouya's stupid pigheadedness to not let her go to campus unattended especially when she went there without any _trustable_ means of transportation a.k.a. expensive chauffeured cars and a set of bodyguards following her around. After some unnecessary yet tiresome arguments, much to Haruhi's relief; Kyouya gave in on his idea of giving her some personal bodyguards.

However, Kyouya totally opposed the idea of Haruhi going to the university with a bus and pretended to be completely oblivious whenever she tried to explain to him that she had been very well-experienced in taking busses ever since she was 8. In the end, Haruhi had to resign with Kyouya's decision on having her chauffeured everywhere she went as long as she still stayed at Ootori's household and no more arguments would be accepted about that particular topic from that time onwards. At that time, Haruhi could only curse herself inwardly. She should have known that it would be hell a lot of troubles for her when she chose to live under the same roof with wealthy people like Kyouya Ootori.

"Haruhi-Chan?" asked Shiori somewhat sounded a little bit worry.

"Ah. Sorry, I don't quite catch your last question, Shiori," said Haruhi apologetically. She could only hope inwardly for Shiori to drop the subject about her current job by then.

However her hope was totally pointless since only a moment later Shiori restated her previous question once again, "Um… I just asked you whether this research of yours had anything to do with your job as a nanny."

Haruhi coughed a little upon hearing the straightforwardness of Shiori's question. She should not be surprised to hear that kind of question from her since it was probably the only similar trait that both of them shared after all. However for some peculiar reasons, Haruhi could not help but feeling somewhat uncomfortable whenever she talked about her job as a nanny even to her best friend. It was as if she wanted that particular part of her life with Kyouya and his son to remain as a secret safely hidden from other people.

Finally Haruhi merely responded Shiori's question with, "I guess you could say that this research has _everything_ to do with my current job, Shiori."

--

Haruhi could only conclude that the library in the Medicine Program was not much different with her own program. The only visible difference was probably the fact that some of the students inside there were wearing white overcoats that looked exactly the same like the ones that doctors always wore in the hospitals.

Some of the students were obviously looking at her and Shiori's direction once they stepped inside the quiet library. Haruhi merely suspected that it was due to Shiori's usual excited guffaws, which could be heard almost as often as her sharp nudges jabbing her poor ribs in such vigorous manner while making a lot of unnecessary comments about almost everything.

Sometimes Haruhi could not help but feeling amazed with Shiori's knack in making ordinary things sounded utterly silly like, "Oh my God, it's even quieter in here than our program's library, isn't it Haruhi-Chan? It's amazing to know that all these people not even feel disturbed with the silence in this room. At any rate, I will say that it's _freaky_!"

Or she would say, "Have you seen those horrible pictures of human organs on that part of the wall, Haruhi-Chan? We will never have a chance to see those kinds of things in our boring library! They're _beyond_ cool!"

Shiori even unabashedly chuckled slightly while giving more dreadful remarks like, "Why do they have to wear those whitish coats in here anyway? It surely gives the nuance of a _morgue _instead of a library in my opinion."

In the end, along their walks in between the cramp tall bookshelves; Shiori was happily noting down verbally every little detail she had managed to find from her surrounding and downrightly ignoring Haruhi's frantic hand signals to make her lowering down her voice.

Haruhi could only blame herself silently. She should have realized it much sooner that letting Shiori tagged along with her would land both of them in some unnecessary troubles just like what she normally did at their own program's library. However, judging from Shiori's characters in the first place, Haruhi knew that she probably would never stand a chance in making her best friend cancelled her plan to follow her to the library anyway.

In the end, Haruhi merely decided to quicken her search before the vulture-like librarian kicked them out or even worse, had a chance to blacklist her from visiting _any _libraries in Tokyo University. Haruhi knew that judging from the livid glare that the librarian gave them, the woman had been itching to kick them out of the room, probably the minute she and Shiori took their first steps in there. She could not really blame her since she also noticed that Shiori's enthusiasms somehow had managed to influence some of the students in there to follow suit. Some of them had even started their own small discussions and ignoring completely all the large signs of '_Be quiet_' that were glued on all sides of the walls enveloping the library.

In the midst of her hurried attempts on finding the materials she needed, Haruhi realized a little bit too late that there was a person standing quietly in front of her as though he was waiting for her to realize his presence. Thus as the result of her recklessness, she bumped her head quite hard on the person's well-built chest.

Haruhi rubbed her nose slightly before she spoke apologetically to the victim of her carelessness, "I am so…"

However, that person would never have the chance to hear what Haruhi had wanted to say in the first place since once their gaze met, the girl only let out a small gasp of surprise.

"Hello Haruhi, I never know that you like to wander around to other programs' libraries. Still, can you elucidate me on the reason why you are here at the moment?"

"Senpai..." muttered Haruhi weakly; cursing her bad luck that of all the people in the world she just had to bump into Kyouya Ootori, the person she wanted to meet the least at the moment.

"Well, I am not wandering around like what you've said, Kyouya-Senpai. It's just happen that I need some materials to study from this library," added Haruhi defensively soon after she recovered from her shock.

"I see…" Kyouya smirked slightly.

Haruhi frowned upon noticing Kyouya's trademark smirk that made her slightly annoyed. There was a hint of accusing tone in her voice by the time Haruhi retorted, "Besides, why did you ask me such question when you're _here_ yourself?"

Kyouya's smirk became more apparent as he pushed his glasses lightly and said, "Would you mind to _elaborate_ your statement further, Haruhi? I think I have missed out the most _crucial_ point of it."

Haruhi frowned a little upon hearing Kyouya's words and glanced questioningly at him. She did not understand why Kyouya had to ask her on such an obvious fact when the guy himself was also visiting Medicine Program's library, a library which obviously also did not belong to his own program in the first place.

However, before she could ask him further, Shiori had butted in to their conversation with her usual cheerful tone, "Ah, I never know that you have a friend in the _medical _program, Haruhi-Chan."

Upon listening to what Shiori just said, finally Haruhi understood what Kyouya meant with his question. She had been so stupid not to recognize it much sooner when Kyouya was evidently wearing the white overcoat at that moment. That particular attire could only mean either Kyouya wanted to be a morgue-keeper (as quoted from one of the many _crazy_ remarks from Shiori) or he took medicine as his major (as quoted from the _sanest_ remark that Shiori had made so far).

Probably the reason why Haruhi failed to notice the obvious was mostly due to the fact that all along she always assumed that with Kyouya's _eerie_ management skills that he always presented all the while when they were still in the host club, he would take business as his major. It never crossed on her mind that Kyouya would take medicine as his major instead.

In the end, Haruhi could only lamely reply Shiori with, "I guess _me_ neither, Shiori."

--

"Shouldn't you introduce us by now, Haruhi? I'm afraid that your dear friend here might start thinking that you have an indecent manner." Kyouya smiled politely at Shiori as he pushed his glasses to the brink of his nose once again.

They had decided to change the venue of their conversation to the cafeteria instead. Actually it was not Haruhi's idea to stay back and leisurely grab a cup of coffee in the cafeteria of the Medicine Program since in the first place she only wanted to borrow some books from the program's library and read them conveniently in her own room. However, Haruhi did not have much choice when both Kyouya and Shiori insisted on continuing their small (and _meaningless_ if she might add) talks outside the library.

Haruhi sighed deeply and said, "Kyouya-Senpai this is Shiori Ishio; Shiori, this is Kyouya Ootori."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ishio-San," said Kyouya while displaying his polished smile that he used to show to the girls in the host club. Haruhi could not help but shaking her head a little in disbelief. She could only guess that the saying_ 'old habits die hard_' was slightly too perfect to describe Kyouya and his little façade that he had been proudly exhibiting to her best friend at the moment.

"Aw… so do I, Ootori-San. I never know that Haruhi has such a _handsome_ friend like you." Shiori laughed heartily while she tapped Haruhi's back amiably.

For a fracture second, Kyouya noticed an inexplicable resemblance between Shiori and his best friend Tamaki Suoh. And somehow that knowledge alone had left him with an uncharacteristic pang and slight bitterness in his heart. Kyouya could only hope inwardly that it was _not _the reason why Haruhi chose to be good friends with that girl in the first place.

However, when Kyouya spoke once again there was no trace of emotions visible on his flawless face.

"So, what kinds of materials are you looking for in the Medicine Program's library anyway, Haruhi? Probably I can… ah… offer you my help since I am more familiar with most of the topics in the Medicine Library than you are, I suppose," stated Kyouya a little too politely while staring at both girls sitting before him with his onyx eyes unreadable.

Knowing that everything offered by Kyouya was never as simple as it sounded , Haruhi merely answered bluntly, "Ah, there's no need for me to trouble you in this _trivial_ matter, Kyouya-Senpai. I am sure I will be able to find what I am looking for sooner or later anyway."

"But I thought you just said to me that you're _running out_ of time, Haruhi-Chan?" asked Shiori innocently.

Haruhi could only curse herself inwardly for bringing the wrong person with her at the worst place and timing possible. A place where Kyouya Ootori happened to be around at the same time with a person like Shiori would definitely invite disaster no less.

Kyouya sent Haruhi a crooked smile and his usual calculating look while he spoke once again, "That's _interesting_…"

At that point, Haruhi had lost for words and merely gave Kyouya a weak grin.

Thankfully, before either Kyouya or Shiori could make the situation worsened; a guy dressed in the same white overcoat like the one that Kyouya wore walked towards their direction and spoke ruefully to Kyouya once he stood next to him, "There you are, Ootori-San. Sorry to interrupt you like this but something came up. We need your help back there."

Kyouya let out an inaudible sigh before he replied, "I will be there shortly, Sawada."

Kyouya stared at Haruhi for a couple of seconds before he added, "Well I guess I have to leave you two here then ladies. It's nice to meet you, Ishio-san. I hope we can continue our _unfinished_ conversation at _home_ tonight then, Haruhi."

Haruhi's jaw almost dropped once she heard Kyouya's last sentence. She knew that Kyouya Ootori would not let her escape without any explanations on what she was doing at the Medicine library in the first place. However, she never suspected that the guy would carelessly said things that could easily be misinterpreted by anyone who heard him.

From the corner of his eyes, Kyouya could see that Haruhi went slightly paler which he could only assume it was caused by the words that he said to her before. Kyouya stood up from his chair and chuckled softly as he walked away from the two girls. However, he still could hear Shiori asked Haruhi accusingly, "What did Ootori-San mean by '_continue the conversation at home_,' Haruhi-Chan? It surely sounds like both of you are currently living together. Oh my God! Why you never say anything to me about such big news like that?"

--

Shiori still looked a little bit grumpy and kept pouting her lips cutely when she finally spoke once again to Haruhi after she failed to stay mad at her, "I can't believe that you never inform me about you living together with a guy, Haruhi-Chan. I always think we're good friends and friends definitely will never lie or hide anything from each other."

"Sssh… please don't talk that kind of nonsense out loud in here, Shiori. Listen, it's not like what you think and I'm not lying about anything. I just haven't found the right moment to tell you some of the details related with my job, that's all," whispered Haruhi quietly while her eyes were gazing at the thick textbooks that were arranged neatly in the high bookshelves in front of her.

"I don't understand the connection between your job as a nanny and the fact that you're living together with Kyouya Oo…" Haruhi had to put her palm to Shiori's mouth before she could mention's Kyouya's name. Almost at the same time when Haruhi managed to muffle down Shiori's voice, she could not help but glancing around at her surrounding nervously, as if trying to ensure herself that nobody had heard what her best friend had said. It was definitely unwise for her to start a wild rumor with Kyouya especially when she was still inside the Medicine Program's library that apparently happened to be the library of the program that the guy took.

"Well, if I must say; it connects perfectly fine for me, Shiori. You see… he's the one who hires me as a nanny so in a way you can consider him as my _boss,_" replied Haruhi casually as she pulled out one red coloured textbook from the shelf before her.

Shiori's black-brown eyes went bigger and gasped, "So what are you trying to say is that you're being hired as his _brother_'_s_ nanny, Haruhi-Chan?"

"Nope. He hires me to be his _son's_ nanny," answered Haruhi simply as she took some more textbooks from the same shelf.

"His… _son_?" for the first time ever since they were inside the Medicine Program's library for the second round that day, Shiori finally managed to lower down her volume without Haruhi needed to ask her or put her palm on her mouth like what she did before.

Haruhi sighed. She was not even sure whether Kyouya would mind if she mentioned her job to her best friend in the first place. However, after what he said when they were still in the cafeteria, she was left with no other option rather than to tell the truth about whom she was babysitting for.

"Do you mean that Ootori-San has _already_ married?" whispered Shiori sounded quite surprised and brusquely brushed some strands of her long light brown hair away from her face to have a better look at her best friend.

Haruhi slightly perplexed upon hearing Shiori's question. For some reasons she never had any inclinations to ask that question to Kyouya. It did not necessarily mean that she never thought about Kyouya's status especially after she saw Hajime for the very first time in front of her doorstep that morning. However she always felt unsure whether or not Kyouya would be interested in telling her about his family details. And somehow she was even unsure whether she really wanted to know about those things to begin with.

"I am not sure."

"Hah? What do you mean with you're not _sure_? Does it mean that the mother of his son is still alive? Or is she already passed away since if she's still alive he definitely won't need you to be his son's nanny in the first place, isn't it Haruhi-Chan?"

Haruhi felt her stomach squirmed restlessly once she absorbed all the questions from Shiori. Somehow it made her lost her concentration in finding all the materials that she needed for her small research.

Only at that time Haruhi finally had the answer on why she had never bothered herself to ask any of those questions to Kyouya ever since the day she saw him once again. It was definitely not because she was afraid that he might be angry once she asked him those kinds of questions.

The answer was simple yet quite painful for her to really grasp the meaning behind it; she was not ready to hear the truth being spoken in fear that she might not be able to accept the facts and only ended up hurting Kyouya or Hajime instead. At that moment an unfamiliar emotion filled up her chest that made heart twinge bizarrely.

"I am really not sure about all of those things, Shiori," replied Haruhi at last.

Probably noticing a tint of apparent sadness in Haruhi's face, Shiori hastily added in her usual cheerful tone, "Ah, no need to _dwell_ too much on those stupid little things Haruhi-Chan. We _both _know that it was _way_ too useless for us to spend our youth thinking about all of the unknowable things anyway."

Shiori looked somewhat relieved once she heard Haruhi chuckled when she replied, "I guess you're _right_, Shiori."

"Of course Shiori _is_ always right, Haruhi-Chan."

Haruhi could not stop from laughing very hard upon hearing Shiori's last sentence. It was Shiori's turn to frantically stop Haruhi from creating unnecessary commotion in the supposed to be quiet library of the Medicine Program.

Haruhi had to press her stomach quite hard since she still could feel a stab of pain there because of her laughter a moment ago before she managed to find her voice back and said, "You really remind me of _him_ a lot, Shiori."

"Hah?"

--

"Have you managed to find what you're looking for, Ootori-San?"

Kyouya was slightly startled upon noticing that someone was just calling his name. Somehow he automatically glanced at the tall bookshelf next to him and looked very relieved after he was sure that the two girls he had been silently watching from the gaps of the bookshelf next to him did not seem to hear what his friend had said.

Kyouya only answered, "I am afraid I might _never_ be able to _retrieve_ it no matter whether I have _found_ it or not, Sawada."

Sawada scratched his head slightly upon hearing Kyouya's words. He obviously did not understand what Kyouya was trying to say at all. However, it was fruitless for him to hope that Kyouya would refine his previous statement. All Kyouya ever did after he gave his answer was kept on staring at the direction of the book counter where the two beautiful girls whom he met in the cafeteria only awhile ago happened to be registering some quite thick textbooks for them to loan.

He was even more bewildered when he saw Kyouya half-running towards the book counter almost instantly once the two girls stepped out from the library. However, Sawada was utterly lost for words by the time Kyouya returned back from the counter with an uncharacteristic grin clearly visible on his face and a small crumpled piece of paper clutched firmly in his hand. He did not understand what kind of information that Kyouya was able to get from the horrible vulture-like librarian. However, Sawada did understand one thing; whatever information that Kyouya got from the librarian, it was definitely something really good since it could turn Kyouya's devastated look into an apparent happiness in only less than five minutes time.

Once they returned back to their desk where the other group members were still busily discussing about their latest project, Sawada failed to restrain himself from taking a quick glance at the paper that Kyouya had left next to where he put his laptop at the moment. And he could not stop himself from asking out loud to Kyouya once he saw what was written on that piece of paper, "Why do you need textbooks about _babies_, Ootori-San? Aren't we supposed to be working on human anatomy for our current project?"

Somehow, Sawada had unexplainable goose bumps once he saw Kyouya smirking upon hearing his questions.

--

When Haruhi and Shiori reached the black limousine parked nearby the entrance of the car park, a tall-build chauffeur straightaway opened the back door of the car in a swift manner for Haruhi.

"Thank you, Tachibana-San. I'm so sorry to keep you waiting," said Haruhi politely as she passed all the textbooks she had managed to borrow from the Medical Program's library to that efficient-mannered chauffeur.

The chauffeur bowed a little when he spoke attentively, "No need to worry, Fujioka-Sama. It's my duty to wait for you."

Shiori could not refrain herself from giggling upon listening to the chauffeur's courteous answer.

"So where are you going now, Haruhi-Chan? Are you heading home straightaway?" asked Shiori once she recovered from her giggles.

Haruhi chuckled softly and merely replied, "Nope, I still have to collect something for the son of a person who always thinks that only money could buy him happiness. I have to prove how _wrong_ he is before he makes his son ends up just like him."

* * *

_**1 year 8 months 28 days before…..**_

_**Tokyo Disneyland – Main Entrance**_

"_Haruhi!" Haruhi jumped a little in surprise upon hearing a person called her so suddenly from quite a distance to where she was standing at the moment._

"_Tamaki-Senpai… Why are you here? Is Kyouya-Senpai with you?" asked Haruhi once the person whom just called her stood in front of her. She could not help but frowning slightly upon noticing that the blonde guy was coming there alone. _

"_Ah… mother called me yesterday and said that he would be unable to _accompany_ you today," replied Tamaki in his usual happy-go-lucky style. _

_Haruhi frowned slightly and could not help but thinking_, 'It was supposed to be the other way around, wasn't it?'

"_Did he mention any _specific _reasons for not coming here today, Tamaki-Senpai?" asked Haruhi cautiously. _

"_I think he only said that he was _not_ actually very thrilled with the thoughts of having to go to a crammed amusement park like this especially on his birthday."_

"_I see…" _

_Haruhi sighed a little as one thought escaped quietly from her mind_, 'So I guess it was a _bad_ idea after all.'

"_Ah it's not necessary for you to _dwell_ too much about mother, Haruhi-Chan. We _both_ know him too well to take everything he said by heart anyway."_

"_I suppose you're _right_, Tamaki-Senpai," replied Haruhi finally. She smiled sweetly while staring at the blonde guy with her big amber eyes. _

"_Of course Daddy _is_ always right, Haruhi-Chan. So what do you want to try first? Rollercoaster? Haunted mansion? Tell me what do you want and your _wish_ shall be my command, My Princess," answered Tamaki hastily as he gave Haruhi a warm smile. Soon after he finished his sentence, Tamaki return his gaze at his surrounding enthusiastically like an overgrown toddler. . _

"_So will you be able to make an _obsolete_ wish comes true then?"_

"_What did you just say, Haruhi-Chan?" Tamaki quickly returned his gaze at Haruhi._

"_Ah… No, I said that I want to try that mirror house first, Tamaki-Senpai."_

--

_**The previous day….**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

"_What's this, Haruhi?" Kyouya frowned once he set his eyes on the small piece of paper that Haruhi put on his palm a moment before. _

"_It's your present; happy early birthday, Kyouya-Senpai," said Haruhi with her usual charming smile etched on her attractive face. _

"_And what should I do with this piece of paper?" asked Kyouya hesitantly. _

"_It's a ticket to Tokyo Disneyland for tomorrow. Have you ever visited there previously, Kyouya-Senpai?" replied Haruhi smoothly still with the same smile. _

"_No, I have never been there before, Haruhi."_

_Haruhi bit her lower lips slightly as if she was thinking hard before she managed to say, "Ah… I see… I guess you would choose to go to the ones in America, France or Hong Kong instead. I read it in their website that they also have the same parks in those countries as well."_

_Kyouya sighed a little as he spoke once again, "It's my mistake of making such a meager answer for your previous question, Haruhi. I believe I have to elaborate my answer further that I have _never _been to those kinds of parks in my _entire_ life before."_

_Kyouya raised one of his eyebrows and looked slightly confused when he added, "May I know why do you have to look _that_ surprised, Haruhi?"_

"_Um… I always thought that you have visited to those kinds of places around the world for many times with your parents before," answered Haruhi simply. _

"_Well, you're _wrong _in this matter, Haruhi. I never went to those kinds of wasteful trips with my parents. All my family members seemed to have come to an unspoken agreement that there are much _more_ important things in life than to amuse ourselves in some overcrowded parks full with nothing but unreliable and dangerous machines in the first place," replied Kyouya in a matter-of-factly tone. _

"_But those kinds of overcrowded park full with unreliable and dangerous machines always bring happiness to people who go there, Kyouya-Senpai," asked Haruhi slightly surprised with Kyouya's response. Her big amber eyes stared intently at Kyouya as if waiting for him to amend his cold answer that he gave her a moment before. _

_Kyouya slightly regretted his own reply once he noticed Haruhi's face slightly crestfallen upon hearing his words. _

"_I am so sorry to disappoint you over this matter. However, I don't believe that a person could find happiness in such a _simple_ and _cheap_ way like that, Haruhi," said Kyouya softly in the end. _

"_Well, I will prove you how wrong you are in this case. Just go with me there tomorrow and we could have some fun, Kyouya-Senpai," answered Haruhi calmly. _

_Soon after she finished speaking, Haruhi smiled at Kyouya before she started walking towards the door of the 3rd Music Room. _

_However, her steps were ceased when Kyouya's spoke to her once again, "I'm merely wondering, Haruhi… Can you enlighten me on who else you give your… ah… invitation to this particular park?"_

"_What do you mean, Kyouya-Senpai? It's your birthday so of course I only invite you. Or do you want me to ask the others to come along with us as well, Senpai?"_

_Kyouya stunned for a fleeting second before he spoke in a low voice, "No, I don't think that's necessary, Haruhi. I'm only checking out since… um… I don't want any of them to be late in attending my birthday party tomorrow evening just because they're going to this amusement park."_

_Haruhi tilted her head a little with a slightly confused look etched on her pretty face when she asked, "Well, doesn't it mean that we will also be late if that's the case, Kyouya-Senpai?"_

_Kyouya caught off guard with Haruhi's last question and could only murmur falteringly, "Then I guess we only need to _ascertain_ ourselves that we'll return back to my place before the party starts, Haruhi." _

_Haruhi smiled innocently at Kyouya by the time she replied, "I guess you're right, Kyouya-Senpai. So I will see you tomorrow 11 o'clock at the main entrance of the park, Senpai."_

_Before Haruhi left the room, she turned around to look at Kyouya once again before she optimistically stated, "I really _wish_ you to be able to find happiness that doesn't come from _complicated_ and _expensive_ ways like what you always know all along, Senpai." _

--

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom**_

_For the past twenty minutes, Kyouya Ootori had been staring at the same small piece of paper with a trace of smile still evident on his face. _

_Clothes and shoes were aberrantly scattered around his normally neat and organized room in such an excessive way that people might actually thought it was caused by a burglary._

_For once in his life, Kyouya did not bother about the tidiness of his bedroom nor did he try to do anything with the current state of his room. All that was worthy his attention at the moment was on that piece of paper that he had been carrying around wherever he went ever since he left the 3rd Music Room only a couple of hours earlier. _

_Kyouya was quite surprised and returned back from his reverie when a knocking sound and his butler's voice could be heard from behind his bedroom door, "Ootori-Sama, there's a lady who asks for a permission to see you."_

'Haruhi…_'_

_Upon that thought, Kyouya almost jumped from his chair and went to open his door straightaway. At that exact moment, his eyes glimmered strangely as he tried to refrain himself from smiling. _

"_Where's she now?" asked Kyouya curtly. _

"_The lady's waiting in the outer living room, Ootori-Sama," replied the butler politely and immediately leading the way towards the direction of the guest that he had mentioned to Kyouya before. _

_--_

_**Ootori Mansion – Outer Living Room**_

"_Ha…" Kyouya did not get the chance to finish what he wanted to say upon realizing that the guest who came to look for him was not the one whom he wished to see that evening. _

_Kyouya frowned deeply as he put a mental note to give his butler a lesson or two for not telling him exactly who the guest was in the first place. _

"_I'm glad that you're finally willing to see me again, Ootori-Kun," said the girl happily. She was smiling at Kyouya with a pair of eyes full with unspeakable emotions. _

"_Tell me what do you want and I expect you to leave my premises immediately after conveying the purpose of your coming," answered Kyouya coldly. He did not even trouble himself to look at the girl and merely fixed his gaze on the expensive painting on one side of the walls inside that room. The smile was no longer visible on his handsome face and the glimmers in his onyx eyes had turned into cruelty with a hint of malice. _

"_I wish you a happy birthday, Ootori-Kun. I always want to be the first person to tell you that on your birthday," the girl spoke much softer than before and her smile was slightly fading. _

_Still staring at the same painting, Kyouya spoke once again with an impatient tone, "Well, I assume you've spoken out your intention and as what I mentioned before; I hope you to leave this place now."_

_At that moment, the girl's face glowed with an apparent euphoria as she said, "I have not finished yet, Ootori-Kun. I have a very _special _birthday gift for you and I hope after you see it you will be as ecstatic as I am." _

_Before Kyouya could say anything, the girl put a small white plastic with a long rectangular shape on his palm in a way that only reminded him of a certain shorthaired girl who always dressed up as a guy; the same girl who gave him the small piece of paper that he had safely inserted inside the back pocket of his jeans. _

_Upon noticing the double red lines that were visibly shown on one end of the small white plastic that the girl just passed to him, all the colours seemed had been drain completely from Kyouya's face almost instantly. _

_Trembled slightly, Kyouya could only brace himself for the worst to come when he finally managed to find his voice back, "What do you _expect_ me to do with this, Nakashima-San?" _

_The girl smiled sweetly at him as she gave Kyouya her reply, "You don't need to do anything for _now_, Ootori-Kun. I want to give you the _best_ gift ever for your birthday this year." _

_Kyouya did not even realize when Reina seized his hand. Furthermore, he noticed it slightly too late when the girl put the other palm that was not holding the small white plastic onto her stomach._

"_You still won't be able to feel anything now, Ootori-Kun. However, I believe _our_ child also wants to say happy birthday to his _father_."_

_As if he felt fire was burning his palm; Kyouya straightaway pulled out his hand from Reina's stomach. He was speechless and felt very frustrated to the extent that he really wanted to destroy everything inside the living room where they were currently standing merely to make sure that he only had a _bad_ dream. _

_The same sweet smile still had not left Reina's face when she continued to speak again after she waited for some futile moments for Kyouya to response, "I am pregnant with _your_ child, Kyouya Ootori." _

_--_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom**_

_Kyouya was lying on his exquisite bed with both of his eyes wide open while his face bore an unreadable expression. He did not know how long he had been staring emptily at the ceiling of his room nor did he actually care about it in the first place. _

_He had destroyed everything he could grab all the way to his room yet he still did not feel satisfied with the damage he had done so far._

_He also had vented out his anger inside his already messy bedroom through smashing anything that he incidentally set his eyes to either at the wall or the floor of his room. There was nothing much different anyway for him whether he hit those things against the wall or the floor. Kyouya only knew at that point, he had lost all his senses to observe any difference about everything in his life once he managed to absorb what Reina Nakashima had said to him in the living room earlier into his brain. _

_Quietly, Kyouya took the small piece of paper that was already slightly crumpled from the back pocket of his jeans carefully. At the same time his other palm clutched the small white plastic with a long rectangular shape that he unconsciously held all along since he was still in the outer living room even tighter. _

_Instinctively, he caressed the small piece of paper with his thumb as a sad thought crossed his mind, '_I guess I will _never_ have a chance to have a simple and cheap happiness in the end, Haruhi_.' _

_He stared at the piece of paper for a little longer before he grabbed one of the cell phones inside the drawer of the side cabinet next to his bed that had not been destroyed by him in his wrath a moment before. _

_He pressed one of the speed dials of the phone and waited for the person on the other line to pick up his call with the pair of his onyx eyes veiled behind his bangs. _

_When Kyouya noticed that the person on the other line had finally greeted him cheerfully, he let out a small inaudible sigh. _

_Kyouya could barely recognize his own voice as he said to the other line, "Tamaki, I need your help."_

_-- _to be continued --

**A/N:** OMG this chapter turned out to be very… very… long. I hope I am not bored you to death with this.

Thank you once again for all of you who have been reading this story so far especially for all of you who gave me your reviews. I love you guys!!

**To:** **Reason**, **Lil Miss Rainie**, **KuroxTenshi**, **AncientHistory**, **-Sapphire-Onyx-**, **Lindsay-chan**, **LittlePrincessL**, **chinpunkanpun**, **SecretLittleWhiteLie**, **chadick**, **Rangerette**, **CrazyFaucet**, **tif**, **jHeyTTernallie**, **wiwionly**, **Topaztok**, **AliciaL**, **Star Garden**, **flameblessed**, **-.-My-.-Imperfect-.-Love-.-**, **Death By Squishy**, **theorganizedmess**, and **Cole Adams**; thanks a lot for your reviews. I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well.


	7. Six

Disclaimer: Ouran does not belong to me. However this story used the characters from it.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_--__** Six**__ --_

"Welcome home, Ootori-Sama," chorused all the staff of the Ootori household once they saw their young master entered the mansion. They bowed at Kyouya with such uniformity and elegancy that could make any royalties proud.

Kyouya did not give any signs that he was listening to the greeting at all. He merely gestured his chauffeur to pass all his belongings to the nearest maid as he continued walking and passing by the row of people in different uniforms whom still carried forward their bows; as though they would remain that way as long as there was no instruction from their young master to do otherwise.

However, Kyouya's step halted once he saw one particular man at the end of the row.

"I want to have a word with you, Tachibana."

The person by the name of Tachibana merely gave a small knowing nod as the answer that he understood the young master's request.

--

Kyouya waited until Tachibana closed the door behind him before he spoke curtly from behind his luxurious desk, "Is there any unusual occurrence today?"

Tachibana bowed slightly before he answered in succinct manner , "Everything went perfectly normal with the exception of her class cancellation, Ootori-Sama. Fujioka-Sama stayed inside her class for awhile before she went to the Medicine Program's Library with…"

Kyouya motioned the guy to stop talking at the same time when he said, "You can skip that part."

Tachibana gave Kyouya another courteous nod and continued as if there was no interruption, "Fujioka-Sama did not go home straightaway after her visit to the library. She asked me to take a small detour which resulted in her delay of coming home on time today."

Kyouya pushed his glasses to the brink of his nose. His expression was unreadable as he asked cautiously, "What do you mean with '_a small detour_,' Tachibana? You know very well that I hate unspecified information."

Hesitantly, Tachibana replied, "I am afraid I cannot elaborate my statement further, Ootori-Sama. Fujioka-Sama has specifically asked me not to inform anyone especially _you_ about it. It's supposed to be..." Tachibana cleared his throat uncomfortably and obviously avoiding eye contacts with his young master before adding, "A surprise."

Upon hearing the bold reply he got from Tachibana, Kyouya raised his eyebrows questioningly. Tachibana had been staying with him ever since he was very young and he was one of the few people Kyouya could put his trust on. Thus, he never expected the guy of all people would dare to disobey him.

"Did she tell you what kind of surprise was that? Or have you _failed_ my trust, Tachibana?" asked Kyouya relentlessly.

At that exact time, Kyouya's expression could make any normal people shivered. There was nothing but coldness and displeased shown in his onyx eyes. Yet Tachibana did not even flinch when he took a glance at Kyouya for a mere second before he answered politely, "I will always honor the trust you put upon me, Ootori-Sama. However, it is not appropriate for me to reveal where Fujioka-Sama went this afternoon since she purposely prepares everything to surprise you and Hajime-Sama."

Kyouya gave a calculating look at the guy as he pushed his glasses again and stated irritably, "You can dismiss yourself now. However, I will have to remind you to keep your eyes open and always remember the expectation that I have set on you. I will not tolerate _any _kinds of mistakes, Tachibana."

Soon after that Tachibana bowed for the last time before he withdrawn himself from the room.

A low weary sigh escaped silently from Kyouya's lips once he was alone inside the room. Somehow he chose to still stay there for some time as though lost in his thoughts before he left the place quietly several minutes later. By the time he closed the door behind him, his face was impassive.

--

Before Kyouya could reach the doorknob of Hajime's room, the door opened slowly only to reveal two young women in nurse's uniform. Both of them looked very surprised to find him standing in the front door.

Without further ado, they greeted Kyouya timidly, "Good afternoon, Ootori-Sama."

Kyouya only gave an indifferent nod as he asked, "Where's Hajime?"

Even only for a mere second, he could see the two young women exchanged wary glances before one of them decided to reply him with an obvious hesitation shown on her face, "Fujioka-Sama is currently accompanying him, Ootori-Sama. She has asked us to leave Hajime-Sama with her only a moment ago."

They quickly stole a glance at Kyouya to see his expression and completely relieved at once when they noticed a faint hint of smile etched on their young master's handsome face.

--

Kyouya entered the room quietly. He did not walk towards the exquisite baby bed straightaway and merely stood at one corner of the room; slightly hidden behind the large mahogany cabinet.

From where he was standing, Kyouya could see Haruhi was kneeling down next to where his son was sleeping with an adorable smile visible on her face. She had rested one of her elbows on the mattress to support her chin while the other arm was cuddling his sleeping son gently as she sang an oddly familiar lullaby song for him in a soft whisper. Upon seeing the scenery; for the first time of the day Kyouya smiled genuinely.

It did not take a long time for Haruhi to realize that someone was watching her at the moment. Instinctively she raised her head only to see Kyouya smiling tenderly at her and somehow the scenery before her made a tinge blush crept up on her fair cheek.

Knowing that the girl had already noticed his presence, Kyouya walked calmly towards where his son was sleeping currently.

He carefully leaned his back against the bedrail next to Haruhi before he looked at her and whispered mockingly, "I never know that you can sing those kinds of songs, Haruhi. I must say that I'm quite... ah... _impressed_."

Haruhi chose not to give any comment to what Kyouya just said and merely muttered in a low voice, "You should have called me once you came in instead of standing there quietly like a ghost, Kyouya-Sempai. Thankfully Hajime's fast asleep or he will have a nightmare seeing you looming from out of nowhere inside his room like that."

Kyouya smirked as he replied lightly, "Obviously I never imagine myself _daringly_ destroying the fun parts, Haruhi."

"I…" Before Haruhi could retort Kyouya with anything, from the corner of her eyes she could see Hajime stirred slightly.

Without thinking too much, she grabbed Kyouya's arm as she spoke in a hushed tone, "Sssh… Let's go or we'll wake Hajime up, Sempai."

Kyouya did not say anything Haruhi when she had literally dragged him out of Hajime's bedroom through the connection door that led to her own room. In fact he had to admit that a big part of him was actually enjoying the sensation prickling his bare skin when it came in contact with her smooth fingers.

However he did not have any chance to contemplate with his own feelings as soon as he entered Haruhi's room. In one quick glance upon entering the room, he could see thick textbooks and stationeries scattered around the place including her bed.

Noticing that Kyouya looked completely appalled with the condition of her room, Haruhi laughed softly as she said, "Ah, I'm sorry for the mess, Sempai. I haven't got a chance to tidy up my room for these past few days."

Kyouya raised his eyebrows upon hearing Haruhi's explanation. He took one of the textbooks lying on the floor and flipped through the pages emotionlessly as he asked, "Didn't the maids normally clean your room everyday anyway, Haruhi?"

Haruhi was still busily returning the textbooks to the wooden bookshelf at one corner of the room and did not bother herself to look at his direction when she answered, "Um, I prefer to tidy up the room myself and I don't quite like people rearranging my stuff since it will only make it very difficult for me to find where they put them in the end. Besides, I always do that all along and I quite enjoy the activity as it is."

Kyouya frown a little as he replied back, "I am _very_ sure that all the maids in this house can tidy up your room without messing up with your stuff, Haruhi. There's no need for you to be involved in such trivial matters like cleaning up this room for instance since you can do… um… much _useful_ things with your spare time." It never occurred in his mind before that Haruhi would be interested with his supposed to be harmless remarks.

Haruhi stopped her activity as she curiously turned around and asked Kyouya directly, "Like what?"

Kyouya was left speechless for couple of seconds before he managed to say, "Pardon?"

"I want to know your ideas of spending my time for much useful things, Sempai," repeated Haruhi as she continued arranging her textbooks neatly on the bookshelf.

There was a strange gleam in his onyx eyes as Kyouya took one step closer to where Haruhi stood at the moment. And by the time Kyouya was ready to give his answer, he was already standing behind her without the girl was even aware.

"Like spending it for Hajime… and _I_." Kyouya's voice was hardly audible when he spoke his last word.

Haruhi almost thought that she had cracked her neck incidentally as she turned her head a tad too briskly once she heard Kyouya's deep voice sounded very near only to find him standing ominously behind her. She realized it by then that she did not have any chance to escape from the awkward situation she was in at the moment since the guy had already stretched his arms forwards and pinned her against the bookshelf behind her.

Upon seeing what Kyouya did, for a second Haruhi seemed like lost for words and only gazed at the guy with an obvious confusion evident on her big amber eyes.

However much to Kyouya's displeasure, less than a minute later Haruhi suddenly clapped her hands together rather excitedly as though remembering something important before she answered, "Ah, I know what you're trying to say Kyouya-Sempai. How can I _forget_ that I have to spend more time with Hajime since I am supposed to be her nanny after all? In fact you just remind me of something…"

Kyouya was way too perplexed with the comment he just got from Haruhi to realize that she had already slipped away in one swift move from the cage he had made with his arms previously. He only noticed that Haruhi was no longer standing in front of him by the time she ran hurriedly to grab her backpack that she had carelessly put on top of the drawer next to her bed.

Shortly after gazing at her for a minute longer, Kyouya finally opted to sit and rest his back lazily on the tall wooden frame of Haruhi's luxurious bed. At that exact time, the girl failed to notice that Kyouya was still staring at her with an unreadable expression drawn on his flawless face as she continued looking for something inside her backpack.

After rummaging the insides of her backpack for quite some time, Haruhi could not help but smiling cheerfully once she finally found what she had been looking for.

With an apparent smile on her face, she walked to her bed where Kyouya sat at the moment and straightaway passed him some pieces of small papers that she just took from her backpack.

The way she handed in the papers to him at that moment only reminded Kyouya of the sorrows from his past that he would be more than glad to forget for the rest of his life.

It was very easy lately for him to remember about his past even those that he barely recalled he ever had them in the first place ever since he stood in front of the doorstep of Haruhi's small apartment that morning.

Even before that, Kyouya had already understood perfectly that all the memories he had tried so hard to forget would chase him back one by one once he invited Haruhi back to his life. Yet after knowing all the dire consequences lied ahead of him; he still came back to her in the end.

He knew that probably he was acting like the stupidest man on earth with even stupider behavior for not running away when he still got a chance to do so. Nonetheless, all he ever did was gazing longingly at the girl whom probably would never return his feelings no matter how hard he tried or how long he had kept his feelings for her.

Kyouya did not know how long he had been staring at Haruhi without speaking any words. He had lost himself in the thoughts of her and felt emptiness growing inside him for no apparent reasons.

However, before Kyouya could ponder on his feelings further, a small touch on his cold face woke him up from his forlornness. He could see Haruhi was staring at him with a great concern clearly visible on her beautiful face. And somehow her hand that still rested on his cheek felt like spreading a tingling warmth to his body.

"Kyouya-Sempai, are you…"

Haruhi barely remembered what she wanted to say in the first place as Kyouya embraced her at the same time when she was trying to speak to him.

"Kyo…"

Haruhi never got any chance to finish her word as Kyouya tightened his embrace while he whispered softly in her ear, "Can I borrow your shoulder _only_ for this time, Haruhi?" His eyes were hidden behind his locks as he rested his head on Haruhi's shoulder.

Something in Kyouya's deep voice sent an uncharacteristic pang in Haruhi's heart. At that moment he looked completely lost and broken. Almost as if she was moved by her instinct; Haruhi encircled her arms around his back protectively.

And Kyouya did not need any answer when he noticed Haruhi was hugging him back only a moment later.

--

Haruhi never realized that she had already dropped the piece of papers she held tightly in her hand before. She also completely at lost of any logical reasoning on why she had to care so much about the guy whom was still entwined his arms tightly around her waist. Probably it was because at the moment he looked so unlike Kyouya Ootori she knew all along; and that awareness alone somewhat made her chest sore.

Only a moment later, both of them were being forced to return back to reality as they heard Hajime's wail from the next room.

Kyouya stood up swiftly as though being forced to wake up from a sweet daydream and started walking towards the connection door leaving Haruhi behind without any hesitation. However, before he entered his son's room; from the corner of his eyes he could see that Haruhi still gazing at his direction with obvious worries on her face.

Forcing himself to smile, Kyouya turned his head slightly before he said in his usual mocking tone, "Are you _coming_ with me, Haruhi-Nanny?"

Haruhi startled slightly. She noticed that Kyouya had returned back to his stoic self when he spoke to her. However, she decided not to pursue the matter further as she answered, "Yup. I will be there shortly, Sempai."

Kyouya shrugged a little and left Haruhi's room quietly.

Haruhi sighed. She always found it difficult to understand Kyouya since the first day she met him and the other host club members in the 3rd Music Room. Some parts of her constantly felt intrigued with the way he distanced himself with other people and she always wanted to know the reason why he had to do such tiresome thing even with his closest friends.

However, before she managed to bridge the distance; Kyouya opted to walk away from her and the other host club members' life without even bothered to give them any proper explanations in the first place. Yet when she saw him once again, she was unsure where to start bridging the distance, as the guy was no longer Kyouya Ootori that she knew back then when the Ouran High Host Club still existed.

Somehow her big amber eyes sparkled daintily as she stared at the connection door for a moment before she picked the small piece of papers scattered on the floor and went to Hajime's room.

--

Once Kyouya noticed Haruhi entered the room; he said almost too quickly without bothered to hide his displeasure, "I thought you've changed your mind and decided to stay inside your room instead since it seems like it took quite some time for you to reach a room that happens to be located next to your own, Haruhi."

Haruhi was completely unfazed with Kyouya's sarcasm and merely smiled politely at some of the nurses and maids who had turned their gaze at her upon hearing what he had just said. However she chose not to answer him straightaway and kneeled down in front of the couch where he sat at the moment with Hajime sitting on his lap instead.

Haruhi's smile never left her face as she caressed Hajime's face softly. The boy was already fully awake and moving his arms cheerfully.

Haruhi glanced at Kyouya for a moment before returned her gaze back to Hajime once again as she said amiably, "I never thought that my dad's prediction last time is _correct_."

Kyouya frowned slightly, "Pardon?"

Haruhi chuckled softly as she added, "Well, he told me once that you'll be a perfect father one day. And seeing you with Hajime sitting on your lap like this, somehow I can _finally _see what he meant at that time."

Something in Haruhi's words made Kyouya's chest slightly throbbing with painful regrets.

When Kyouya replied; his voice was barely audible, drowned by all the sounds of the activities from the nurses and maids as they were still busily preparing things for Hajime, "I'm afraid I could be everything _but_ a perfect father, Haruhi."

"Eh?"

Kyouya smiled faintly before he spoke once again as if he merely repeating his words before, "I just asked you what took you so long in your room. Honestly, I always get the impression that you never pay any attention to whatever things I say, Haruhi."

Haruhi chuckled once again upon hearing what Kyouya just said; completely oblivious with what the guy _actually_ wanted to tell her in the first place.

"Well, I need to grab these first and show them to you before I forget."

Kyouya glanced at the papers that Haruhi showed for the second time around that day while he asked cautiously, "What are those things anyway, Haruhi?"

Haruhi put the small pieces of papers on Kyouya's left palm as she said kindly, "Well, I know that the day after tomorrow is Hajime's first birthday. So I'm thinking of bringing him to go and have some fun with me tomorrow since I don't have any classes on Fridays and it will not affect any of your plans for his birthday on the following day."

"How do you know that the day after tomorrow is Hajime's birthday?"

Kyouya did not need any answers from Haruhi since he could hear one of her nurses standing at the other end of the bed gasped fearfully.

Haruhi did not show any inclinations that she would answer the question that Kyouya just asked her any time soon. She was even completely oblivious with the nervousness that were plainly exhibited by the nurses and maids inside the room and merely continued playing with Hajime little fingers.

Kyouya sighed a little before he continued as if there was no interruption from his nurse, "Why do you think I will allow you bringing Hajime around tomorrow anyway, Haruhi?"

"Well, I don't see any problems with that at all since you _hire_ me as Hajime's nanny in the first place, Sempai. And I know for sure that there is nothing more important for me than spending a good time with him especially on his birthday."

Kyouya gestured all the nurses and maids that were still busily preparing things for Hajime to leave the room before he shot Haruhi with an exasperated look.

"Where do you want to bring him anyway? He's still too young to notice anything in particular, Haruhi."

"I want to bring him to Seaworld tomorrow. And you don't need to worry Kyouya-Sempai; I've been doing quite an extensive research about babies and their abilities for these past few days. And I've found out the facts that they can differentiate colors, sounds, smells just like adults. So I guess it will be fun for Hajime to visit Seaworld since he can see different kinds of colors and shapes of fish and I…"

Kyouya cut in, "And why do you need to buy so many entrance tickets?"

"Well, considering your type in the first place; I could only assume that you will ask me to bring the whole squadron of SPs and nurses to follow your son everywhere he goes. I've even asked Tachibana-San your…"

Haruhi stopped her sentence almost abruptly once she noticed the frown on Kyouya's face.

"Um please don't blame Tachibana-San, he's only…"

"Leave that for _me_ to settle with him later, Haruhi," retorted Kyouya almost mercilessly.

Without even waiting for Haruhi to replied back at his acid remark, Kyouya continued to speak in a more sarcastic tone than before, "So who _else_ do you invite besides Hajime's nurses and SPs for the _big_ day?"

Haruhi titled her face slightly as if thinking very hard as she answered simply, "Um… one or two _maids_ probably?"

Kyouya snorted. He could not believe that the one who just gave him the utterly stupid answer was the _same_ person with the valedictorian of Ouran High School.

"And?"

"Ah…" Haruhi tapped her chin lightly and added, "It's better for me to invite _Shiori_ as well before she makes a big fuss if she ever finds out that I'm going to Seaworld without asking her to come along as well."

Kyouya had lost all his patience by the time he heard Haruhi's latest answer.

He frowned deeply as he swallowed his pride to ask, "What about _me_? Don't you think at least it's a common _courtesy_ to ask the father of the son you've planned to go with to come along in your… ah… small _gathering_ before you ask all my nurses, SPs, maids, or even your friends to join the _fun_ with you?"

Haruhi blinked her big eyes in obvious surprise upon listening to what Kyouya just said.

"But I thought you always hate overcrowded places all along, Kyouya-Sempai. That's why I _never_ thought of asking you to come with me and Hajime tomorrow."

It was too late for Haruhi to notice that she had hurt Kyouya with her bluntness by the time Kyouya answered her, "I see…"

Kyouya was already half standing still with Hajime in his arms by the time Haruhi clutched the edge of his shirt. He could see guilt apparent in her big amber eyes when she spoke softly to him, "You're the one who told Tamaki-Sempai that you dislike overcrowded places when I invited you on your birthday last time Kyouya-Sempai. If I know that you like those kinds of places I will definitely ask you first before anyone else…"

Haruhi's words stung him. He never wanted to be reminded about that particular day by the people around him especially Haruhi.

Kyouya could feel his heart squirmed painfully as he replied her in the most uncaring tone he ever had, "Well, at that time I could _not_ stop thinking that Tamaki would be _more_ than the _perfect _partner to accompany you playing around in such place, Haruhi."

This time, it was Kyouya's turn to feel remorseful when he noticed that Haruhi was utterly dumfounded by his cruel words. And he realized it a little bit too late that he would be more than willing to do anything to make her smiled again the way she did all the time before he threw that stupid jealous retort at her once he saw her expression the next moment.

Kyouya could see that Haruhi was still smiling at him as usual as if there was nothing wrong between them when she stood up from the floor almost suddenly. Yet he realized at the same time that it was not the same smile that she always gave him before as this time it looked very distant and never reached her big amber eyes like it used to be.

However, he did not have any chance to do anything by the time he heard Haruhi sighed softly. And somehow it made him unwilling to hear whatever she wanted to say subsequently.

"I _get_ what you meant, Kyouya-Sempai. I guess I've made a terrible mistake on planning this thing to begin with. Let's just forget that I ever mention it in the first place as I finally realize that it's a pretty stupid not to mention childish idea anyway. I'm really sorry for wasting your time listening to my nonsense, Sempai," stated Haruhi in a matter-of-factly tone.

Kyouya saw that she continued smiling by the time she looked at him for the last time before she turned away but the stunning twinkles that used to be apparent in her eyes were no longer exist in there.

As Kyouya aware that she started to walk towards the connection door, he stumbled with his own words, "No. Haruhi… I…"

Haruhi did not bother to wait for Kyouya to finish what he wanted to say to her as she cut in immediately a second later, "Um… I think it's better for me to return back to my room since I still need to study for some tests next week. I hope you enjoy your evening, Sempai."

Kyouya knew there was no sarcasm hinted in the words that Haruhi just said because it was not her type to do such thing to begin with. And he also knew that she never intended to inflict any harms by saying those words in the first place. However, her last sentence felt like piercing his heart since he knew perfectly that he only felt the other way around once he heard the soft sound of a door being closed.

And suddenly Kyouya wished he could revert back the time as he finally _understood_ the damages that he had done.

* * *

_**3 years 4 months 1 day before…...**_

_**Apartment 203 – Fujioka Household**_

_Haruhi looked completely aghast when she stepped inside her apartment only to see the least expected person to ever sit on the tatami floor with her father especially on a hot summer day. She knew that it must be as hot as hell during summertime for rich people's standards since her place was not even equipped with any air-conditioners. Thus, she never thought that one of them would come and linger in there like it was a common thing for him to stay in such a hot and stuffy place to begin with._

_"What are you doing here, Kyouya-Sempai? I thought today is supposed to be our first day of the summer holidays?"_

_"Can't I be here on _our _first day of the summer holidays, Haruhi?" _

_"Yeah, Haruhi-Chan, don't be such a party-breaker. Look, Kyouya even brings melons and watermelons for us."_

_"Huh?" Haruhi's eyes widened in utter horror once she noticed a mound of both fruits covering what it looked like more than half of her already small and cramp living room. _

_"I noticed that many people like to eat melons and watermelons during summertime so I thought you and your dad might like them as well especially since today seems hotter than usual." _

_His pair of onyx eyes never left Haruhi when he added indifferently, "As I do not know which one both of you prefers; it simplifies the matters significantly if I bring both kinds altogether. I'm not familiar with the usual standard of bringing these kinds of gifts. Thus, I hope it's not _too_ little or else I could ask my chauffeur to bring over some more."_

_"Eh?" _

_The corner of Haruhi's mouth twitched a bit once she heard Kyouya said '_too little.'_ Kyouya had brought melons and watermelons that could only be referred as too little if Fujioka's family consisted of 20 people instead of 2. _

_"Here, let me help you with the groceries, Haruhi," added Kyouya before he walked leisurely towards the doorsteps where Haruhi rooted on the spot at the moment as if it was a daily basis for him to walk around her house in the first place. _

_"Ah…"_

_Kyouya smirked as he took over the paper back on Haruhi's arm. "It's funny to know that you only give me a single syllable response so far, Haruhi." _

_The only reason why Haruhi could not response Kyouya that much was because she was too flabbergasted with his company at the least expected timing and what he brought along with him was even more shocking than that. _

_"Well, it's because I _would_ expect Tamaki-Sempai to be the one who comes and brings those kinds of things and not you, Kyouya-Sempai," replied Haruhi bluntly. _

_Haruhi did not realize that Kyouya stopped his step upon hearing the reply from her and obviously failed to notice the changes in Kyouya's face as his back was facing her at the moment. She merely walked carelessly behind Kyouya in which only made her hit her head at the guy's back almost abruptly. _

_"Ouch… Why do you stop all of a sudden, Kyouya-Sempai?"_

_Kyouya did not answer her question and still stood still at the edge of the small living room. From where he sat at the moment, Ranka could see the damage that his daughter had inflicted on the young guy. He only sighed quietly and stood up. _

_"Just ignore Haruhi-Chan's ramblings and take a seat, Kyouya-Kun. And do you know that it's impolite to ask your guest to carry the groceries for you, Haruhi-Chan? Here, bring them to the kitchen yourself and prepare our lunch immediately as Kyouya-Kun and I are already starving from having to wait for you to come back from the supermarket for so long," said Ranka hurriedly as he passed the grocery bag back to Haruhi again. _

_Haruhi only shook her head exasperatedly and went to the kitchen straightaway without even take a glance at Kyouya. She had missed completely the time when Kyouya stare at her with a tint of hurt bared openly in his onyx eyes. _

_However, Kyouya recovered from his disappointment only a fracture moment later. He smiled sincerely at Ranka and refused politely, "Thanks for your offer, Ranka-Chan but I think I will help Haruhi with lunch instead." _

_Kyouya's smile never faltered from his face as he received a gentle tap on his shoulder from Haruhi's dad. And from the corner of his eyes, he could see Ranka gave him an assuring smile as if he knew something that he preferred not to dwell too much in the first place. _

_--_

_"So what do you want to cook, Haruhi?"_

_Haruhi blinked her eyes slightly surprised to find Kyouya in the kitchen. _

_"Um… I will make cold soba, Sempai. My dad wants it since the weather is quite hot today. You just wait with him in the living room while I'm preparing it since it will not be too long to serve this kind of dish anyway."_

_Kyouya only smiled vaguely as he replied, "I want to help."_

_"Eh?"_

_"Why? Is it that surprising to see me offer a helping hand, Haruhi?"_

_"I guess I always thought that you're not the type of person who will offer a help in the kitchen, Sempai. It's more like…"_

_"Tamaki, yeah I know," cut in Kyouya bitterly._

_Haruhi did not know what else to say beside, "Um… Well, yeah." _

_However, she slightly regretted her straightforwardness when she saw the expression etched on Kyouya's flawless face the next moment. It was almost like he was disappointed with her response somehow. _

_Kyouya averted his gaze on the grocery bag as soon as he noticed that Haruhi was looking at him with her big amber eyes twinkling strangely._

_"I never know that you can cook cold soba with only using these things, Haruhi," said Kyouya at last. _

_"What kind of cold soba you do you normally eat anyway, Sempai?"_

_"Well, my chef cooks Shinano or Etanbetsu soba most of the times."_

_"No wonder…" muttered Haruhi quietly before she continued, "This is what _commoners_ refer as cold soba, Sempai. It's not a daily basis for people who live in Tokyo to eat soba that only can be found in Nagano or Hokkaido like you." _

_"I see…" answered Kyouya unconcernedly while he continued in much nicer tone, "So what can I help you then Haruhi?"_

_"You can skin these onions using this," replied Haruhi as she passed him a small knife. _

_Kyouya stared at the knife hesitantly before he took it while he grabbed one onion. _

_Haruhi chuckled softly as she saw the way Kyouya tried to skin the onions._

_"What?" Kyouya frowned._

_"I guess it's just too priceless to see you concentrated on something that doesn't benefit you at all, Sempai."_

_"Hey… ouch" gasped Kyouya. He accidentally cut one of his fingers since he did not give a proper attention to where he directed the knife on his hand._

_"Oh, you're bleeding," Haruhi bit her lips slightly before she sucked Kyouya's bleeding finger almost spontaneously. _

_Haruhi was too occupied to notice that Kyouya's eyes widened and a tinge of pink could be seen on his paler face once her lips touched his finger. _

_"Aw… How romantic of you Haruhi-Chan..." Ranka's words somehow pulled them back to the reality. _

_Haruhi straightaway withdrawn her face from Kyouya's finger and her tone went slightly higher when she finally managed to find her voice back, "I will get the first aid kit, Sempai."_

_Kyouya stammered, "I was just…" _

_He did not have any chance to explain what was actually going on since at that time Ranka merely gave a small wink at him while laughing loudly. His laughter still could be heard from the kitchen even when he had returned back to the living room. _

_As he noticed what Ranka just did, Kyouya could not help but smirking a little. _

_--_

_"Kyouya-Sempai, I have to say that it's not the correct way of eating cold soba. You will dirty your clothes if you continue eating it like that," said Haruhi in a slightly impatient tone once she saw Kyouya eating soba in the same way like he ate western food. _

_"You have to bring the bowl closer to your mouth, Sempai. Honestly, all the while I never know that you're clueless about eating soba in the first place, Kyouya-Sempai," added Haruhi matter-of-factly. _

_"I disagree with your opinion that I am clueless in eating a mere cold soba, Haruhi. I found it quite… ah… challenging to eat this particular food while I have to cross my legs like this at the same time"_

_Haruhi gazed at Kyouya and understood what he meant. She knew it very well that Kyouya only had a western style dining room which meant that he only experienced eating with his legs crossed on the floor when he happened to have a meal at her house with the other members of the host club. However, during all those times they always ate things that could easily be eaten using either chopsticks or spoon and forks. Thus she never noticed that it was actually quite difficult for Kyouya to eat simple things like soba since it was supposed to be eaten in a way that it might look indecent for rich people like Kyouya's standard. _

_Shortly after noticing the reason behind Kyouya's clumsiness, Haruhi laughed merely. Kyouya noticed that Haruhi's eyes would be brighter than usual and they were always glimmering remarkably whenever she laughed freely like that. _

_"I believe there's nothing funny to laugh about, Haruhi," replied Kyouya impatiently as if he was trying very hard to be mad at her. _

_They were too absorbed in their own conversation to notice that Ranka had been watching them for quite awhile. _

_"Ah… You two act just like a couple of _newlyweds_; it must be nice to be young," stated Ranka almost dreamily. Somehow his words managed to make both Haruhi and Kyouya forgotten about their bickers and fell silent almost instantly. _

_After spending some time in awkwardness, finally Haruhi spoke once again, "Anyone wants fruits?"_

_"You know Haruhi-Chan, you just gave me an interesting idea."_

_Knowing her dad very well, Haruhi could only sigh deeply. It would be so much for a quiet summer holiday for her. _

_--_

_**Half an hour later...**_

_**At the Nearby Park **_

_"What are you doing, Haruhi-Neechan?" asked a boy not older than 11. He dropped the soccer ball that he carried as he went closer to Haruhi. Some of his friends were scurried along behind him. _

_"We want to play smashing the watermelons, Rei-Kun. Do you want to join us?"_

_The boy's eyes were glowing when he asked enthusiastically, "Can we?"_

_Haruhi shot Kyouya a questioning look for a fracture second. The guy only smirked slightly and gave her a little shrug in which she assumed that he did not mind. _

_Haruhi turned her gaze to the boy and tapped his head softly before she replied, "Of course all of you can join us. Besides, we have more than enough watermelons for everyone." _

_Upon hearing her answer, all the children were cheering in a deafening volume._

_Although Haruhi did not have any inclinations to admit it out loud, she found the activity of smashing the watermelons quite entertaining. She could vaguely remember that her mother always played that game when she was still alive. It was as if it's only yesterday she saw her mother quarreled jokingly with her father about who could smash the watermelons first. And remembering that scene Haruhi could not stop herself from smiling. _

_"She must be remembering her mother."_

_Kyouya startled. He had been secretly staring at Haruhi when everyone was having fun with the watermelons that he brought. He did not know exactly why he brought the watermelons in the first place. However, seeing her smiling freely like that made him felt relieved that he brought the fruits that successfully tainted his limousine with dirt in the first place. _

_Kyouya turned his gaze quickly to Ranka whom already sat next to him on one of the bench in that park. _

_"We always played that game when her mother was still alive. It was always fun to tease Haruhi-Chan since she was always the last one to have a chance to smash the watermelon every time we played it."_

_Kyouya could not stop himself from asking, "Why?" _

_Ranka beamed happily. After he stared at Kyouya for almost a minute long his smile grew wider as he replied, "Let me tell you a little secret about Haruhi-Chan, Kyouya-Kun. She _never_ wins playing rock, paper and scissor."_

_Kyouya knew that it must sound like it was utterly stupid to repeat the same question once again, however Ranka seemed like purposely wanted to make him ask the question out loud. _

_"_Why?_"_

_"Because she _always_ throws scissor, Kyouya-Kun." _

_Kyouya noticed a strange sparkle in Ranka's eyes. Yet he did not have any chance to ask him further what he wanted him to do with the information that he just gave him as Haruhi called him from the center of the park, "Kyouya-Sempai, why you keep sitting idly in there. Come and join the game."_

_As Kyouya stood up, he heard Ranka spoke quietly from his seat, "Can I _trust_ you to take care of her, Kyouya-Kun?"_

_And when Ranka saw the sincere smile vividly illustrated on the handsome boy's expression, somehow he already got the answer. _

_--_

_"It's unfair, how come Haruhi-Neechan always be the one who's smashing the watermelon _after_ this onii-chan came along?" asked Rei and stared at Kyouya as if demanding for a reasonable explanation. _

_Kyouya messed the little boy's hair as he answered simply, "Because Haruhi-Neechan wins playing rock, paper and scissor _fair _and _square_, Rei-Kun." _

_"No, she's _not;_ I know you're helping her somehow. Haruhi-Neechan never won whenever she played throwing rock, paper and scissor with us before you're here," retorted the boy accusingly. _

_Kyouya smirked. _

_"Well I guess Haruhi-Neechan _finally_ learns a thing or two. If you don't want to admit your defeat then we can just adjust the rules. Besides, gentlemen will never fuss over small stuff like that. What do you think, Rei-Kun?" taunted Kyouya. His smirk never left his face as he pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose. _

_"Okay, then we won't use throwing rock, paper and scissor anymore to choose the winner."_

_Haruhi tried to stop the unnecessary arguments immediately by saying, "Hey guys, you can just go ahead and play I don't…" _

_"Hey, girls should _never_ meddle in boys' business," butted in Rei bossily. _

_Kyouya chuckled softly as he gazed to Haruhi who looked utterly flabbergasted upon hearing Rei's words, "He _has_ a point there, Haruhi."_

_Haruhi could not stop herself from muttering under her breath, "_Boys_…"_

_A moment later when Haruhi finally opted to sit next to Ranka, she noticed that her father kept on staring at her with a wide smile illustrated on his cheerful face. _

_"Why are you smiling like that, Dad? It's quite _eerie_."_

_"Well I just saw my little girl's having fun in there so it's only normal for me to keep on smiling right?"_

_Haruhi could not help but smiling back at her father for a moment once she heard what Ranka just said before she turned her gaze to Kyouya who was busily chasing after Rei as he laughed along with the kids around him. _

_"I think he will be a _perfect_ father someday, Haruhi-Chan."_

_"Eh?" Haruhi stared her father before she followed the direction where her father set his eyes on. _

_When she finally realized what he meant Haruhi smiled as she answered, "Yes, I think _he_ will." _

_--_

_**Later on that afternoon...**_

_**In Front of Fujioka's Apartment – Parking Lots**_

_"I am really sorry for all the trouble from my dad and those kids. They can be a little carried away sometimes," stated Haruhi regretfully. _

_Only in one quick glance she could see some visible stains and dirt on Kyouya's expensive clothing. Knowing Kyouya's lifestyle, Haruhi knew that the guy would throw away his clothes to the nearest dustbin as soon as he stepped in his house later on that day. She just secretly hoped that he would not charge her for that._

_"It's alright, Haruhi I really enjoyed the whole things we did today. Besides, I believe I also played some parts of the troubles as well." _

_Haruhi's big amber eyes widened a little upon hearing Kyouya's calm response. She definitely did not sense any sarcasm hinted behind his words this time and his expression was oddly sincere. _

_In the end Haruhi decided to drop the subject and merely chuckled softly. "Yeah, talks about gentlemen; you did not even let Rei-Kun win the last round." _

_"Well, I have my very own reason to win that particular one."_

_"I see… and what might it be? Wining over the _last_ watermelon?" teased Haruhi. There was a tint of naughtiness in her big amber eyes. _

_Kyouya only let out a small laugh as he slided in to his limousine. _

_"Hmm… It's a secret that only Rei-Kun and I _knew_…" _

_Kyouya gazed at Haruhi with a trace of smile still could be seen on his handsome face as he continued, "And for you to _find out_…"_

_--_

_**25 minutes earlier…...**_

_**At the Nearby Park **_

_"Let's go home, Rei-Chan. There is no more watermelon left for us to play anyway," said one of the boys._

_"No, I will not stop before we can decide who the final winner is," replied Rei hardheadedly. _

_Kyouya smirked._

_"So what will you suggest, Rei-Kun? I don't find it quite entertaining to have a challenge _without _any rewards."_

_Rei frowned deeply as if thinking very hard before he glanced at the direction of one particular park bench. And soon enough, his frown immediately turned into a wide grin. _

_In a secretive manner, Rei motioned Kyouya to come closer. _

_Kyouya had to kneel down to hear what Rei wanted to say after he shot a questioning look at the boy. _

_And upon hearing what Rei just whispered to him; for some reasons, Kyouya's smirk became even more apparent than before. _

_--_

_**Minutes later...**_

_**At the Nearby Park**_

_"I can't believe you lost the game, Rei-Chan," stated a boy with a curly hair while he shook his head in disbelief._

_"What's the reward anyway?" asked another boy with a pair of bright-rimmed glasses._

_Rei felt one of his friend tugged his shirt as he said, "Tell us what the winner got, Rei-Chan."_

_"I… I can't," stammered Rei, looking a litle bit guilty for hiding the truth from his friends. _

_"Why?"_

_"Because boys always keep their promises," stated Rei in a matter-of-factly tone. _

_He shrugged a little before he continued, "That's what onii-chan told me."_

_"But what's that got to do with the game?"_

_"I promised to keep the last reward as a secret that only onii-chan and I knew."_

_"Eh?" chorused some of the children around him almost at the same time. _

_"I don't understand. My mom always said that children will always win when they're competing with adults since they will give in easily," stated Rei in the end. He scratched his head in apparent confusion. _

_"Probably the reward's _too_ good to lose, Rei-Chan…" replied the boy with the curly hair wisely._

_Rei could only ponder to himself upon hearing the answer from his friend. From where he stood at the moment, he still could see Kyouya talking to Haruhi next to a black limousine. _

_"What are you thinking, Rei-Chan? Let's go home."_

_"I thought onii-chan agrees that boys will_ never_ let girls meddle in their business," muttered Rei quietly as he started to walk away from the park. _

_Soon all of his friends followed him from behind. _

_Rei could not concentrate on what his friends were talking about on the way to their own homes as his mind was still thinking over the main reason why he lost the game unexpectedly. _

_He remembered the words he whispered to Kyouya just before they started their last game, _"The winner gets Haruhi-Neechan, Onii-Chan."

_And there was nothing wrong with that, right?_

-- to be continued --

**A/N:** Well, enjoy this chapter, guys!!

As usual, leave me your reviews and comments of what do you think about this story so far. It's one of the most important reasons why I keep on updating the story (smiling) despite my fondness of writing itself.

Thanks for all of you who keep on following this story so far especially for you who gave me all your reviews.

**To: **_**star, Rangerette, firewindgurl, Rapunzel-Girl, CrazyFaucet, Cole Adams, Anon, SecretLittleWhiteLie, waizzz, PA0PU, BlackBlaze, Lozer Nin, flameblessed, innocent school girl, Star Garden, xXx Tohru xXx, KuroxTenshi, wiwionly, Lindsay-chan, Lil Miss Rainie, Death By Squishy, jHeyTTernallie, tif, .thirdalixious.**_ I really could not express how grateful I am with your supports!! I hope you like this chapter as well (grinning nervously).

**Side Note:**

_Cold soba_ is a kind of dish mainly consist of soba (white and thin noodles, sometimes could be brownish depends on the materials used to make them in the first place) that's normally eaten during summertime. Normally people will eat it and make some slurping sound while they bring their bowls/plates closer to their mouths.

The game _smashing the watermelon_ stated in this story is actually quite common for Japanese kids and adults especially during afternoons in summertime. A person who gets the turn to smash the watermelon will play using plastic bat with both eyes were blindfolded using dark fabric. The others can either tease or help the player by shouting the direction of where the player should go in order to find the watermelon.


	8. Seven

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I only own the plot of this story.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

_-- __**Seven**__ --_

Breakfasts at Ootori household were always being spent in quietness. Even when all the members of Ootori family were still around; the dining room was always filled with nothing but silence with the exception of the soft voice that coming from the activities of the maids bringing the dishes to the table.

On some rare occasions when conversations were being made in there, they always evolved around works, achievements and new expectations set by Yoshio Ootori, the head of Ootori business empire. He was a very efficient man; so efficient in fact that he never had time to listen to things that would not bring any benefits for the Ootori family even when they were coming from his own children.

In the end, somehow the rest of the family including Kyouya seemed to have come to an unspoken mutual understanding to never talk during their meals unless it was truly necessary or required by their father.

For Kyouya, it was not like missed any single thing with the absence of the '_family talk_' in his house. He never had any inclinations to have any kinds of conversations with any of his family members to begin with anyway.

He did not mind talking with his sister Fuyumi although she could be quite a nuisance sometimes with her bubbly words and hyperactive behaviours. However he always felt repelled with his two brothers; Akito and Yojiri let alone to start any conversation with them. He would never think of them that way if only they could stop trying so hard to please their father so much that they were more than willing to sacrifice everything for a mere nod from him. Their ways of dealing with everything including their father were always too _simplistic_ and _predictable_ for Kyouya's taste; a concept in which would always remain foreign for him.

--

Ootori Mansion was even quieter ever since the day Yoshio Ootori and his first two sons moved to their other house before Hajime was born. Therefore, it had been quite a long time for Kyouya to have his meals alone in silence inside the marvellous dining room.

Nevertheless, he did not need a long time to adjust with the changes around him. He had found himself growing accustomed not only to the silence in that particular room but also everywhere inside his enormous house. And oddly enough, he was actually enjoying his current life compared to the one he had when his father and brothers were still living under the same roof with him. Besides, he could actually have his breakfasts at his own preferable timing; which was always started somewhere after 11 am. He was _never_ a morning person and so far he had no inclinations whatsoever to convert into one any time soon.

Yet for the very first time Kyouya felt himself suffocated by the silence at the dining room that morning. He knew the reason perfectly well since starting from the day Haruhi moved in to his house; he no longer ate his meals in an absolute silence like he used to be.

He had to admit that even though Haruhi was not as talkative as Fuyumi, she was a good listener not to mention a witty commentator of his sarcasms as the results of her bluntness. Furthermore, he also felt glad that she could adapt with his lifestyle of having breakfast at a timing that was closer to lunch rather than brunch without any difficulties.

Haruhi had told him blatantly on the first day they had their breakfast together that it was easier for her to adjust her eating habits rather than having to _deal_ with his grumpiness of being waken up earlier than 11 am for a _mere_ breakfast like what _exactly_ happened that day. And with the different schedules that they had; she confidently concluded that it would be quite _unlikely _for them to have their breakfast together anyway.

Still although the odds were _not_ high, there were times they had their breakfast together, like that morning for example.

However, at the moment the atmosphere in the dining room was thick and nowhere near pleasant. There was no sign of Haruhi trying to fill the awkwardness between them and merely focusing on scrambling the extravagant breakfast that the maid just brought in for her with her knife and fork with an obvious lack of interests.

So far the only word that came up from her mouth until that moment was an unenthusiastic morning greeting to nobody in particular just before she sat in her usual chair at the other end of the long dining table.

And for once Kyouya wanted to curse his stupidity for not realizing it much sooner that having such kind of dining table could only serve nothing but trouble. He could not believe that he had never noticed before how impractical not to mention troublesome to try to make a decent conversation with a person who sat very far from where he was at the moment especially when that person happened to ignore his presence.

He realized soon enough that things would only get worsened if he did not try to clear the misunderstanding between him and Haruhi after what happened the night before. However it was easier said than done. And now he had to face not only the distance that was caused by the last night's incident but also the literal distance from the long dining table that he had.

After some painful afterthoughts, Kyouya cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying, "The weather today seems _agreeable_ for autumn season; don't you think so, Haruhi?"

Although he could not see Haruhi's expression since she was partly hidden by the exquisite vase that was positioned at the middle of the dinning table, he still could hear her replied half-heartedly, "Yes, you're right, Senpai."

Through the answer that he just got from her, he soon understood that it was not a very wise decision of him to try to start an interesting conversation with Haruhi by only talking lamely about the weather.

"So how was your study last night, Haruhi?" This time he restrained himself to look at her direction in a vain attempt to look aloof and indifference as what he usually did and merely fixed his gaze at his dish instead.

Haruhi glanced at Kyouya slightly before she let out an inaudible sigh. Although she was unable to see his face because the big vase in the middle of the table had veiled him from her eyesight, she could sense a hint of coldness in his tone that successfully sent a faint pang in her chest for no reasonable reason.

"Um, it's okay I guess, Senpai."

At that time Kyouya knew that his attempt of making a decent conversation with the girl had found another dead end.

However, before he managed to find better topics to talk about, Haruhi had stood up from her chair and he could only hear her say, "Thanks for the breakfast, Senpai. I will be in my room if you need anything."

Still, he could not help but feeling slightly startled with the girl's sudden gesture. Instinctively he mimicked her action as he stood up and walked quickly to her direction in a perfect timing to stop her from leaving the place when she started to walk away.

"Wait, Haruhi," demanded Kyouya as he grabbed Haruhi's wrist.

Haruhi turned her head slightly and gave him an inquiring look as she blinked her big amber eyes in surprise.

There was a slight hesitation emerged on his handsome face as Kyouya said, "Listen Haruhi; I apologize for the stupid things I said in Hajime's room yesterday. I don't want you to end up thinking of me as an insensitive jerk after last night."

Haruhi could not help but chuckled a little upon hearing Kyouya's last sentence. She never heard him degraded himself in any sorts of ways before especially just because of a mere trivial thing that happened between them previously.

Still smiling, Haruhi replied in a much livelier tone than before, "I will never think of you as an insensitive jerk, Kyouya-Senpai. You're much more suitable to be portrayed as a dictator or tyrant anyway."

Kyouya felt a heavy burden inside his chest somehow had been lifted up when the sparkles could be seen in Haruhi's big amber eyes once again. He would not be mad with whatever comment he got from her as long as she forgave him for his foolish jealousy the night before.

For the first time that morning, Kyouya showed his trademark smirk as he said, "I'll take that as a compliment, Haruhi."

Kyouya stared at Haruhi for a second longer as if he was contemplating with his mind before he asked briefly, "Have you prepared everything you need for today already, Haruhi?"

"Eh?" Haruhi frowned in confusion upon hearing what Kyouya just asked her.

"Don't you want to go with Hajime today?" stated Kyouya indifferently as he pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose.

Haruhi could not hide her surprise as she began to comprehend the meaning behind his words and let her mouth hung open for a moment.

She could only see Kyouya's smirking slightly when he spoke although his eyes were completely hidden behind his bangs.

"Surely I don't want you to think of me as a dictator or a tyrant forever, Haruhi. You can bring him with you today; just asks some nurses and Tachibana to tag along with you. However, please make sure that both of you will be home before sunset since I don't intend to starve myself while waiting for you," taunted Kyouya as he stared intently at her.

There was his usual smirk obviously visible on his face as he spoke. Yet when Haruhi took a better look at him; she noticed there was something different in his eyes although she could not point out exactly what it was.

And somehow it made her unable to restrain herself from asking, "Why do you change your mind all of a sudden, Senpai? I thought you hate my plan in the first place."

"As far as I remember, I've never said that I _hate_ your… ah… plan, Haruhi. I will leave all the preparation to you then," answered Kyouya calmly.

There was a faint smile lingered on his face as Kyouya started to walk away towards the door. However his steps were halted once he heard Haruhi spoke.

"Why don't you join us, Kyouya-Senpai? It must be fun."

"No, I think it's better for me to skip your offer this time, Haruhi. I really don't want to ruin your excitement with my son especially since I know that you've made a lot of preparations for it," replied Kyouya before he continued to leave.

However, as soon as Kyouya reached the door he could hear Haruhi stated almost mockingly, "As far as I remember, I've never said that you'll _ruin _my excitement by joining us today, Senpai."

And somehow upon hearing those words from her, Kyouya could not help but chuckled softly.

--

Kyouya stared fixedly at the person whom just entered the room. He nodded curtly with a slight impatience illustrated lucidly on his flawless face when the person gave him a courteous bow.

He merely asked in a cold tone, "How is the preparation going so far, Tachibana?"

"I've arranged everything as what you requested, Ootori-Sama," replied Tachibana as he looked at Kyouya with hesitation clearly shown on his face.

Kyouya pushed his glasses a little as he spoke edgily, "You can tell me what you _actually_ wanted to say in the first place, Tachibana."

Tachibana bowed his head once again before he stated briefly, "It is very regrettable to say this Ootori-Sama; however I believe it is _unsafe_ for you to be seen in public places with Hajime-Sama and Fujioka-Sama especially nowadays."

For a fracture second, a piercing gleam could be seen in Kyouya's onyx eyes.

However, when he spoke once again; his voice was unnervingly calm, "May I know the reason why you said so, Tachibana? Or have you detected some imperfections in my plan?"

There was a tinge of fears appeared on Tachibana's face as he confronted Kyouya openly by saying, "I am afraid it is not a matter of detecting imperfections, Ootori-Sama. However, we have to reconsider thoroughly the most important fact that she has returned back to Ja…"

Kyouya slammed his fist against the desk in front of him hard and an apparent anger appeared on his flawless face all of a sudden upon hearing what Tachibana just said.

His eyes were flashing dangerously as Kyouya spoke in a more menacing tone than before, "I will never let that woman ruin the day. Not again."

--

Haruhi had been walking clumsily as she was busily staring at Kyouya with confusion evident on her face. As the result of her carelessness, she had already bumped into quite a number of passerby for the umpteenth time when their small group had finally reached the entrance of Kamogawa Seaworld.

Kyouya threw a side-glance at Haruhi with a hint of a smile played on his handsome face as he spoke calmly, "You can tell me the reason why you look distracted ever since we stepped out of the house. Or else you might end up with bruises all over your body by the end of the day, Haruhi. You see… I still prefer Ranka _not _to think that I am abusing you all this time."

Haruhi chuckled slightly before she answered, "I'm really surprised to know that you didn't even bring any of your SPs along with us today, Kyouya-Senpai. I never thought that we can actually go here only with two nurses and Tachibana-San. It's _beyond_ imagination to see you without your men-in-black troops around."

She was utterly astounded by Kyouya's decision on bringing only limited number of people with them for the trip that day. The first thing she noticed was the obvious absence of the SPs that normally accompanying Kyouya wherever he went all the time. And to add her surprise even more, Kyouya apparently also had instructed the two nurses and Tachibana to wear their casual clothes since none of them dressed in their usual uniforms.

Still, truthfully Haruhi could not help but feeling happy since with the absence of all those rich people's articles that Kyouya normally had with him somehow made their small group looked almost as normal as she could have imagined.

However, once they walked towards the entrance of Kamogawa Seaworld from the enormous parking lots, Haruhi knew that she was expecting too much for them to look 'normal' especially once she noticed that some girls were started to giggle, whisper and slightly blushing as soon as they set their eyes at Kyouya. She could not really blame them since she also failed to understand how a guy could look so good in a simple T-shirt and a pair of washed-out jeans like that.

Haruhi shook her head sadly as she could picture from the odd expressions she saw on most of the girls' faces that they were starting to imagine their ideal men in life. Having spent most of her spare time with the host club members previously had taught her a lot of things about girls including their imaginations and idealisms that she would be more than glad not to know about any of them anyway.

Still, she never took those things she learned from the guys in the host club seriously since she always believed that all the girls who were studying in Ouran High School mostly came from a very different world than average people and obviously could not be considered as the perfect sample of girls in general.

However, at that exact time Haruhi began to comprehend what the host club members wanted to show her in the first place. Somehow she knew that all those girls were busily portraying Kyouya as their ideal image of their future husband without even bother to contemplate any other complications that came along with him especially once they were mesmerized by the fact that he cuddled Hajime fondly like that. He had been carrying his son in his arms protectively all the way from the parking lots and refused briefly when the nurses offered their assistances and merely instructed them to bring Hajime's stuff including an expensive-looking baby stroller along with them instead.

"I don't see any problems with that, Haruhi. All along I always thought that you hate being followed by any of my SPs. Besides, I think two nurses will be more than enough for Hajime since it's not like we will spend the night in here or so anyway," said Kyouya crisply.

Kyouya was totally unabashed with all the odd stares and dreamily gazes he got from his surrounding. He merely seized Haruhi's hand and entwined it with his own fingers as if it was a normal thing for him to do that in the first place while his other hand continued bracing his son firmly.

There was a hint of smirk on his handsome face once Kyouya noticed that Haruhi did not even try to release her hand from his tight clutch as she was still busily defending herself from his previous remarks; completely unaware with what Kyouya was doing at the moment.

"Of course I will never like to be surrounded by your SPs since it's completely abnormal to have them following me around all day long, Kyouya-Senpai."

Haruhi sighed a little before she added, "I guess it's good to know that you're not too overprotective with your son, Senpai. However, I've been wondering why you didn't ask Mayuko and Rika to be the ones who accompanied us today since they're supposed to be Hajime's main nurses and bring two new nurses instead."

She tilted her head slightly as if she was deep in thoughts once they arrived at the cramp queue lines. Until that moment, Haruhi had not even got any chance to ask the names of the two nurses since Kyouya seemed to always purposely ask them to do something totally unnecessary for him every time she tried to ask anything to them even when they were still inside the limousine.

"Well, they have requested for a day leave even before you came up with this plan and I have given my permission back then. So it's not fair to cancel their holiday just because of this especially since I don't want any of my staffs to start taking me as a dictator or a tyrant like a _certain_ girl I happen to know. Besides, I always give my new staffs a liberal amount of chances to show their capabilities; so what's better than to ask two new nurses to come along with us today, Haruhi?"

The corner of Haruhi's mouth twitched a bit upon listening to Kyouya's last sentence. She knew that things might not be as simple as what it sounded especially when the words were coming from an inborn manipulator like Kyouya.

She realized that since the very first day they met, his words always seemed so full of contradictions and subtleties in which she failed to the grasp the real meaning behind them most of the times. And she could not help but wondering whether the words that he spoke a moment ago were just one of those.

Noticing the sceptical look on Haruhi's face; Kyouya smirked.

"Don't tell me that over these years you still have doubts on the truthfulness behind my words, Haruhi?" asked Kyouya lightly as if he could read her mind correctly.

Haruhi stared at him hesitantly before she answered, "It's not like that, Senpai. I guess it's because I never imagine you as a person who can act spontaneously based on pure instincts and mere whims."

"And is it bad to be spontaneous, Haruhi?"

"No, I think it's very good to do that once in a while for a change, Kyouya-Senpai."

Haruhi noticed that there was a hint of sadness lingered in Kyouya's onyx eyes for a fracture second by the time she finished her sentence.

However, before she could ponder over it, Kyouya had changed his gaze at the ticketing officer who was standing next to the entrance door and merely said, "It's our turn, Haruhi."

--

"I must say it is amazing. Don't you think so too, Kyouya-Senpai?" stated Haruhi with Hajime hopping happily in her arms.

They have been venturing along different kinds of shows and aquariums inside Kamogawa Seaworld for nearly two hours and Haruhi had offered herself to carry Hajime soon after they went inside the park. Actually, Kyouya had been constantly asking her whether she wanted him to replace her carrying his son to no avail. She stubbornly insisted that it was part of her job descriptions to carry the boy since she was supposed to be his nanny after all.

However Kyouya was lost for words and let Haruhi carry his son in her thin arms by the time he heard her admitted straightforwardly that she loved her son more than anything.

And when Kyouya stared at her at that moment, he could see that Haruhi's big amber eyes were sparkling marvellously. And before he realized it, his lips seemed moving on their own accord and he only could hear himself said, "I could not agree _more_ with you, Haruhi."

Haruhi beamed at him upon hearing his answer before she returned her gaze at their surrounding.

Kyouya noticed that she bit her lower lip slightly before she said, "I never knew that many people would bring their children here during weekdays. All along I always thought that places like this will _only_ be very cramped during weekends or holidays; I guess it's my mistake to think that way after all."

She had failed to notice that Kyouya halted his step for a second once he listened to what she just said and completely oblivious with the sudden change of his expression.

Haruhi merely glanced at the direction of the food court nearby and without taking a second glance at him, she added, "I will buy some snacks for us first before we're going to see the dolphins' show, Kyouya-Senpai."

Soon after Haruhi finished her sentence, she walked enthusiastically towards the food court with Hajime in her arms.

Upon noticing what the girl just did, Kyouya shot a quick glance at Tachibana. Without much ado, the guy bowed a little and walked in a swift pace towards the same direction that Haruhi just took; followed closely by the two nurses.

Kyouya let out a wary sigh as he stared at the place where Haruhi stood at the moment still carrying his son in her arms. The little boy was pounding his hands happily against her shoulder as she caressed his jet black hair gently.

There was a hint of relief on Kyouya's face once he noticed that Tachibana and the two nurses managed to stand at either side of the girl.

However, before one of the nurses blocked his sight, Kyouya could see that Haruhi was whispering something to Hajime's ear. And somehow that scenery alone had managed to draw an affectionate smile on Kyouya's flawless face.

Still with the same smile lingering on his face, Kyouya heard somebody spoke from behind him all of a sudden, "I hope I am not disturbing your little family _picnic_ here, Ootori-Kun."

It had been some time for him to hear that voice yet it felt only like yesterday. However, there was no hint of surprise or any other kinds of emotions could be seen from Kyouya at that exact moment. It was as if he had been expecting the person to appear in front of him in the first place.

And somehow his face was impassive as he turned around and replied coldly, "What do you _want_, Nakashima-San?"

* * *

_**1 year 6 months 12 days before…..**_

_**3A Classroom Ouran High School **_

"_Ootori-Kun…"_

_Kyouya did not give any signs that he heard someone called him. He merely continued staring at the scenery outside the exquisite window of his classroom; just like what he had been doing for the last 10 minutes. _

_Only from the windowsill where he sat at the moment, he could quietly see the person he missed the most. He did not dare to think that he would have a chance to speak again with that person no matter how much he longed for her._

_He knew the painful fact that had already walked away from her and the other last true friends he ever had. He was no longer being a part of neither her life nor his best friends' life anymore. Ever since that rainy day, he was no longer a member of Ouran High Host Club._

"_What are you looking at anyway, Ootori-Kun? Isn't it a bit boring to sit alone in the same place everyday like that?" asked the same person who just called him a moment before._

_Kyouya still did not show any inclinations that he was listening to what the person just asked him as all his concentration already spent fully at the scenery outside the window._

_Almost at the same time when the person spoke, he clenched his fists very hard until his knuckles turned white. There were ominous gleams in his eyes, as his stares became even more intense upon noticing what had happened before his very own eyes only a fracture second ago._

"_Ootori-Kun…"_

_This time the person managed to get Kyouya's attention although it was not because he listened to what she just said but merely due to the fact that he felt somebody touched his shoulder. Even it was only a gentle tap; it had succeeded in returning him back from his stupor._

_Kyouya directly glanced at the person whom was daring enough to disturb him especially when he obviously wanted to spend his lunch break alone with annoyance bared on his face._

_Lately he had no longer bothered himself to please anyone in the school and would be even less pleasant to those who braved enough to try to make a conversation with him without any single exception._

_He knew that his classmates must have seen some drastic changes in him including his constant sullen mood but he could not even care less about what they thought about him anymore._

_And soon after some open outbursts, much to his relief, nobody tried to approach him again not even Tamaki Suoh._

_Still, in one or two rare occasions he could see from the corner of his eyes that the blonde guy was looking at him with a mixture between sadness, concern and hurt apparent in his eyes. And somehow Kyouya felt a twinge of guilt every time he noticed his best friend's expression since it was so unlike him to look crestfallen like that to begin with._

_However, no matter how much he wanted to return back to his friends, Kyouya understood he had already made his choice._

_Yet he knew he was too much of a coward to let go everything about his past, his best friends, and Haruhi that easily. He could not bring himself to forget her; not when he kept dreaming about her every single night and only woke up the next day remembering her even more than before._

_He might look indifferent, unhurt or even managed to stare at them in disdain each time he rejected their attempts to mend their somewhat broken friendships. However, he always constantly refused to think that someday all of them would give up their hopes on him if he continued treating them that way._

_And when Tamaki announced that he had dissolved Ouran High Host Club in front of the student assembly in one gloomy afternoon; Kyouya knew he had lost his importance in his best friends' life. Ever since that day, the shadow king no longer existed as a part of their world anymore. _

_"What do you _want_, Nakashima-San?" said Kyouya coldly as he stared at her hand that still rested on his shoulder._

_The girl withdrew her hand quickly when she noticed that Kyouya was not happy even for the slightest with her gesture._

"_I am just worried about you, Ootori-Kun. You never eat any lunch these past few weeks and merely stay inside the class like this every day. Do you want me to ask the chef to prepare a bento for you starting from tomorrow onwards?"_

"_There's no need of you bothering yourself in doing things that will go _unappreciated_." _

"_I never do anything just because I want your appreciation, Ootori-Kun. I am truly concern about you and your health."_

"_If you _really_ concern about me or my health then you can simply leave me _alone_. I have told you many times that I can't stand your constant _presence _around me."_

_Without Kyouya even aware, the girl shot a quick glance at the scenery outside the window and frowned once she understood what he had been staring all along. And for a mere second, a glint of hatred could be seen in her eyes._

_However, when she spoke once again her tone was as cheerful as usual, "Okay, I will not disturb you then; see you at home, Ootori-Kun."_

_Kyouya did not trouble himself to answer her and merely returned his gaze at the same view outside the window even before she closed the door._

_And for the second time around, the same animosity was apparent on her face as Reina glanced at the figure of Kyouya staring intently at the scenery outside the window._

_--_

_**At the same time…..**_

_**Ouran High School – West Park**_

"_What did you do that for, Tamaki-Senpai?" asked Haruhi with an evident surprise in her tone._

_There was a slight frown on her face when she touched her left cheek as soon as Tamaki's lips left it._

"_Of course it's simply because I _am _your Daddy, Haruhi-Chan. And it is perfectly _normal_ for a father to kiss his daughter, right?"_

_The corner of Haruhi's mouth twitched a little. She did not understand Tamaki and all his antiques about that father-daughter relationship he kept on mentioning nor did she care about any of them in the first place. _

"_That's what _pervert_ daddies do, Tono. And we can assure you that it's _absolutely_ abnormal!" chorused the twins. _

"_Besides, _why_ do you _always_ want us to have lunch in this boring place _lately_, Tono?" asked Kaoru as he took an onigiri from a basket on top of an exquisite tablecloth and munched it lazily. _

"_Yeah, it's damn freezing too in here, Tono. It's lucky for you since this place is located next to your class while we have to walk all the way here to satisfy your crazy inner-ego," added Hikaru impatiently. _

_Without either the twins or Haruhi even aware; for a second Tamaki's eyes flickered at the big window of his classroom before he said, _"_That's because both of you have _poor_ stamina, Boys. In a lot of movies I saw; peasants always go for a picnic in a _small_ park with a _tiny_ pond using all their _little_ amount of spare time they have to bind together with their families especially during springtime like this."_

_Haruhi coughed quite hard upon listening to what Tamaki just said since it was the most pathetic reasoning she ever heard. It was so unlucky for her since he happened to talk at the same time when she was sipping her apple juice. _

"_Oh, are you _ALRIGHT_, My Precious Daughter?" Tamaki shouted hysterically as he was busily tapping Haruhi's back to help her ease the pain._

"_I am alright, Tamaki-Senpai," said Haruhi while rubbing her nose that felt slightly extremely hot by then since she incidentally inhaled some of the juice in between her cough a moment before. _

"_She will _NOT _be alright if you keep _SHOUTING_ at her like that, Tono. Do you want to _DEAFEN_ Haruhi-Chan?" shrieked the twins exaggeratedly; also using the same unnecessary loud voice as Tamaki. _

"_Besides, who told you that we've already entered springtime? I want to have a word with that _nutcase_," added Hikaru with gritted teeth due to his annoyance at Tamaki's foolishness in combination with the after-effect of the cold wind that was constantly blowing at the direction where they sat at the moment. _

_Haruhi merely shook her head sadly as she watched the worthless bickering between Tamaki and the twins before she took something from inside her pocket._

"_This is for you, Tamaki-Senpai," said Haruhi as she opened her palm to reveal a small red pouch made from a soft cloth which was embroidered beautifully in bright-coloured threads with a thin dark-red ribbon at one end. _

_Tamaki was beaming wholeheartedly as he spoke, "Wow, that's very cute, Haruhi-Chan; I never see such thing in my life before. What's that?"_

"_That is an _omamori _or a lucky charm, Tamaki-Senpai. Yesterday my dad and I happened to pass by a temple and I took this one for you. I hope this will bring a good fortune for you so that you'll pass the Sorbonne University exam next month and have your grandmother's approval to study there in the end. I am sure your mother will be very happy with…" _

_Haruhi did not have a chance to finish her sentence since at that exact moment, Tamaki leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. Her eyes were widened in surprise upon realizing what Tamaki was doing at the moment although she could still hear the twins' faint gasps due to shocks. _

_However, she was smiling back at him once Tamaki withdrew his face from her as she could hear him whispered in her ear, "Thank you, Haruhi-Chan. This is the best gift that I _ever _have; I really appreciate it."_

_--_

_**Later part that afternoon…..**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom**_

_Kyouya turned his gaze from his laptop as he heard a soft knock on his door. Soon after he instructed the person to enter his room, the door was opened only to reveal his butler bowing politely at him._

"_Ootori-sama, there's a young lady looking for you. I've informed her to wait in the outer living room."_

"_Did you happen to ask her name _first_ before you allowed her to enter this house? You do remember that I keep on repeating the same instruction to always ask for my permission first _before_ allowing _anyone_ to enter my house, don't you?"_

_The butler bowed even deeper than before as he looked utterly terrified with what Kyouya just said at him._

_And he remained in that position as he hesitantly said, "I am terribly sorry, Ootori-Sama for making a very bad excuse upon this matter. But I assume this young mistress is a very close friend of yours since I've seen her visited you together with Suoh-Sama and the other friends of yours when you're ill last time. Therefore I've decided to let her waiting for you in the outer living room without asking for your approval first."_

_Kyouya's heart almost missed a beat upon hearing the explanation from his anxious-looking butler. He remembered it vividly that there was only _one _girl who visited him the last time he fell sick beside his own sister Fuyumi. It was the most memorable Valentine's Day ever for him as he had to spend three days in bed to recuperate from a very bad cough after eating her valentine present until the very last piece of it._

_Completely ignoring the flabbergasted look from his butler; Kyouya almost literally jumped from where he sat as he put his laptop away carelessly and walked in a swift pace towards the outer living room leaving his poor butler behind._

_--_

_**Ootori Mansion – Outer Living Room **_

_Soon after Kyouya reached the outer living room, he could see Haruhi staring at some of the paintings inside the room without any real interests. However she quickly glanced at him once she noticed that he was walking towards her direction._

_Something inside his heart squirmed painfully once he saw her bright smile as if she was completely oblivious with the changes that happened between him and all the host club members including herself._

_Kyouya tried to feign his uneasiness of meeting her at the least expected time and place by merely pushed his glasses back to the brink of his nose before he spoke softly with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "What can I _help _you, Haruhi? I must say that I have _not_ expected you to come to my house all of a sudden like this."_

_Haruhi did not even cringe with the lack of hospitality she got from Kyouya and merely stared at him with her big amber eyes twinkling remarkably._

"_I am glad to know that you're fine, Kyouya-Senpai. Tamaki-Senpai is extremely worried about you ever since he decided to…"_

_Haruhi stopped her words almost abruptly once she noticed Kyouya was staring at her with his onyx eyes glazed with coldness while he looked even more aloof and unapproachable than usual. She did not know why she could not bring herself to finish her sentence, however something in those eyes had made her decided not to continue talking about that particular topic._

_Kyouya could barely recognize his own voice as it sounded so acid and distant by the time he spoke once again, "I am _absolutely_ fine, Haruhi. There's no need for you or Tamaki or anyone else to _worry_ about me."_

_He still remembered lucidly the scene he had seen from the window of his classroom earlier that day. It had been constantly replayed inside his mind ever since the time he saw it without Haruhi needed to rub on it by mentioning anything related with Tamaki or her worries about that blonde guy in the first place._

_Knowing that probably his words would only hurt himself and Haruhi further the more he talked with her; Kyouya decided to turn around and started to walk away once he said, "If that's what brings you here then I may suggest you to _leave_. I am really grateful for your concern but I must say that it's _none_ of your business, Haruhi."_

_Haruhi sighed a little when she heard the cold response from Kyouya. She had already prepared for that kind of reaction from him as she had been told by the twins and Tamaki how terrible he treated them whenever they visited him for the past few weeks after he resigned from the host club._

"_No, that's not the _main_ reason why I come here today, Kyouya-Senpai. I only want to give you this," stated Haruhi quickly as she grabbed Kyouya's long sleeve to stop him from leaving._

_Without further ado, she placed the exact same pouch she gave Tamaki earlier that day on his palm, only it was in dark-purple instead of red._

_Kyouya merely frown deeply and did not utter any words when he stared at the small pouch on his palm._

_Haruhi smiled sweetly as she saw the expression on Kyouya's face and added, "That's an _omamori _or a lucky charm, Kyouya-Senpai. I know you must have your reasons not to tell to any of us where you want to continue your study. Nevertheless, I hope you'll be accepted in _whatever_ university you choose in the end and may this omamori bring you happiness _wherever_ you go after you graduate from Ouran, Senpai."_

_Kyouya almost forgot where he was at the moment as he took one step closer to Haruhi once she finished her sentence. He almost embraced her with the other hand that was not holding the small pouch before he heard a faint commotion in the next room._

_He pulled back his hand to his side almost instantly and turned it into a tight fist as he took a big step backward. _

_And there was something unmistakably amiss in his heart once he heard himself spoke sharply to her, "Thanks for the gift, Haruhi. However I believe there's _no_ need of you to come all the way down to my house for this kind of _trivial_ thing. If you _ever_ need something from me you can just give me a call and I will see what I can do for you."_

_Haruhi was slightly surprised upon hearing what Kyouya just said. Yet she was lost for words completely once she saw him inserted the omamori inside the pocket of his pants with an evident disinterest._

_She stared at him once again with her big amber eyes before she replied softly, "I understand, Kyouya-Senpai. I am so sorry for disturbing your afternoon like this."_

_Kyouya realized the absence of the usual sparkles in her eyes. However before he could say anything to her, he heard a feeble sound of breaking porcelains from the next room and he stared at the door close to where they were standing at the moment automatically with a wary look undoubtedly etched on his flawless face._

_By the time he returned back his gaze to Haruhi, she was no longer standing in front of him anymore. He could see her walking away towards the hallway that lead to the main entrance of the house._

_And once Haruhi had finally left the place quietly without saying anything or even taking a quick glance at him, Kyouya knew everything was over between them even before it had a _chance_ to start._

_He painfully understood that he had just forsaken the most important person in his life when he opted to stay immobile on the spot and did nothing to stop her from leaving._

_At that exact moment, his heart felt hollow as he realized that he might never see her walking through that door again after that day._

_--_

_**Several minutes later…..**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Reading Room **_

"_Ootori-Sama…"_

"_You may leave, Tachibana," stated Kyouya shortly after he shot a quick glance at the somewhat messy room._

_In one swift glimpse, he could see heaps of broken vases and Chinese ceramics scattered around the room together with many loose pages that seemed to be originated from some books laying open on the floor._

_Tachibana bowed slightly before he left room quietly._

"_Care to _explain_ to me what you were trying to do here, Nakashima-San?" asked Kyouya acidly._

_Reina did not seem to care about Kyouya's uncaring tone and merely stated, "I think it's better for you to _fire _that staff of yours, Ootori-Kun. He did not even _allow_ me to look for you and locked me inside this room no matter what I said to him."_

"_Didn't I state it clearly and frequent enough that I _didn't_ want you to follow me around? I do not like anybody to come to my house uninvited." Kyouya's onyx eyes seemed to be darkened by the time he looked at Reina. _

"_Why _can't_ I see you _anytime_ I want when you _always_ allow that girl to see you _whenever_ she like, Ootori-Kun?" asked Reina enraged. Her body was shaking slightly as she clenched her fingers into tight fists. _

_Kyouya's eyes flashed dangerously as he spoke with the coldest tone he ever had, "Don't you dare meddling in my affairs, _Woman_."_

"_Why _can't _I? I have all the rights to do it after what happened between the two of us. I guess it must be _interesting _if I announce to _our _society... ah, obviously that's not good enough for us, isn't it?, Then we also shall make sure that our _beloved_ Haruhi to find out the fact that I am pregnant with your child. I can't imagine how she will _react_ once she hears the big news."_

_Kyouya grabbed Reina's shoulder with his two hands and shook it very hard._

_He did not bother to hide his repugnance and his words were full of venom when he spoke once again, "I will make sure I _kill _you myself _before_ you do that."_

_Once Kyouya finished his sentence, he withdrew his hands almost instantly from her shoulder and fixing his stare at the expensive couch in the corner of the room instead. He never took a second glance at her even when she started to walk away from him._

_However, he could still hear Reina spoke calmly as she opened the door, "I will _never_ let that girl take you away from me, Ootori-Kun. _Ever_."_

-- to be continued --

**A/N:** Don't forget to leave your reviews and comments about this story as usual guys since I'll know through them whether or not you're still interested in reading this story.

Thanks a lot to all you who have read this story particularly those who gave me their reviews.

**To:** **chelo**, **Runaway Love**, **Vigorian-Asakura**, **Tsubame-Sakura**, **LittlePrincessL**, **DiTsYgIrL**, **Lindsay-chan**, **-Sapphire-Onyx-**, **dethhauntssister**, **ami**, **wiwionly**, **fantine89**, **gigi0203**, **pink will never be red**, **Topaztok**, **Rapunzel-Girl**, **MischievousPuck**, **Star Garden**, **PA0PU**, **SecretLittleWhiteLie**, **chadick**, **waizzz**, **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot**, **Matahari**, **Cole Adams**, **tif**, **xXx Tohru xXx**, **Death By Squishy**, **chinpunkanpun**; thanks a lot for your great reviews. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.

**Side Note:**

Omamori can be loosely translated as '_protection_.' Many Japanese believe that omamori can protect them from bad luck.


	9. Eight

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

-- _**Eight**_ --

Kyouya Ootori never believed in fate. He was a person who only confided in logic and rationality; in planning and strategic thinking. And he knew that there would be nothing in the world that his brain, wealth and power could not take care of.

At a very young age, he already understood fully that there was no such thing as perfection in life no matter how much money he owned. The fact that the high-end society he lived in had failed to notice the talents he possessed for he was still the youngest member of the family clan after all had provided him more than enough reason to believe that nothing was fair in life. Nevertheless, being the third son of Yoshio Ootori had taught him the hard way to seek for opportunities in any kinds of imperfections he found and use them as the weapons for own his benefits.

Thus, he never bothered to dwell on the lack of appreciation he got for his capabilities and dedicated his life solely to fulfil his greatest ambition in becoming the legitimate heir of the Ootori clan instead. It did not take him long to learn how to anticipate flaws in each decision he made and nullified them even before they had chances to materialize. He never ceased to analyze every detail and calculate each step he took to ensure that he would accomplish his goal in the end and surpassing his brothers for that. Besides, he knew it very well that with all the talents he had, it was not impossible for him to do so in the first place.

At that time, he was very confident in himself that there was nothing in his life he did not have any control of, including his own feelings. After all, to him emotions were no more than a mere alternative means of manipulations to help him gaining reputations and reaping monetary wealth anyway. It would always remain like that.

Until the day he met her.

Haruhi Fujioka; the girl who always dressed up as a guy in her entire high school life yet did not even give a damn care about it.

--

He had failed to find the tangible reason why he found himself constantly intrigued by all her peculiarities and imperfections. Yet somewhat those things managed to draw him closer to her all the same.

Everything about her seemed to contradict all that he believed and fought for. Yet she was the first person who was able to awaken his protective side that he never knew he had it in the first place. And for some unknown reasons, there was no trace of logic and rationality left in him whenever he was with her. Just for her he could throw all his calculation away for all he cared.

It was during their stay at his beach house he realized that he never cared about anyone else as much as what he felt about her. Yet at that time he had overlooked one simple thing; an overwhelming protectiveness in him would only result in strange possessiveness, that she would always belong to him and nobody else.

But before he could overindulge himself in his newfound feelings, somehow Haruhi's bluntness had saved both of them from ending up their encounter in regrets. Her casual remarks that there was nothing he could possibly gain from her had made him relieved yet ridiculously hurt at the same time. Still, at that time he merely left speechless without ever uttering sarcastic arguments like what he usually did for all he knew that she was absolutely right about it.

Yet it was a tad too late for him to revert back everything when he began to understand that for once, he had finally lost his control over his own feelings.

He fell in love.

With the same utterly dense, completely clueless and painfully stubborn girl, yet too stupidly kind that only made him fell deeper for her in the end; Haruhi Fujioka.

Love; something he always believed to be nonexistent in his world where only wealth and reputation mattered had come to his life so unexpectedly. And ironically as it might seem, it did not need to be a genius for him to understand one thing; _only_ for her he was willing to go through anything.

--

Kyouya's onyx eyes flickered warily for a fracture second at the direction of the food court close to where he stood at the moment before he cautiously moved his gaze to look at the petite girl with a long wavy black hair standing elegantly in front of him instead.

And without waiting for any responses from her, he spoke once again in a voice that sounded much colder than before, "I must say I am _surprised_ to see you again, Nakashima-San."

The girl did not even quiver from the hostility hinted in every word that Kyouya just said and merely laughed cheerfully as if it was perfectly sensible for her to be treated like that by him in the first place.

In between her cheery laughter, Reina spoke once again with the same sweetness in her tone, "Yet it's obviously _nothing_ compares to my astonishment of finding you here of all places, Ootori-Kun. But of course I can only blame my stupidity of not taking into account her influence over your life in the first place."

Kyouya's jaw clenched slightly upon listening to Reina's last sentence although he chose not to give any comments about it.

And when her laughs finally died down, the girl continued, "It's amazing to see your endless devotion to her even until today, Ootori-Kun although I bet she's still as clueless as ever. Well, I must say it's one of many things that make us so… _similar_."

The frowns shown on Kyouya's face deepened by the time Reina ended her sentence.

He did not bother to hide his repugnance as he leaned forward and hissed softly to her ear, "Don't you dare associating the _sick_ deviance you always mistakenly think as love with me if you don't want to end up in regrets for the _second_ time around, Woman."

Completely unabashed with what he just said to her, Reina smiled enchantingly and replied simply, "Then I guess _pretending_ to blend in with all '_commoners_' in this place is what you define as _normal_, Ootori Kun? I hate to say this; but a person who can go as far as reserving this entire place only to make it perfectly looks like they're open for the public as usual is _exactly_ as devious as what you've just concluded about me."

Her dark brown eyes never left Kyouya even for a mere second as she lightly added, "We're _always_ the same Ootori-Kun no matter whether you want to admit it or not."

There was no sign of fear appeared on Reina's face even when she clearly noticed the guy's face went darker by seconds upon hearing her words. The smile in her face was even more evident than before when she spoke in her usual cheerful tone, "Still, I can't help but wondering why you have to do that in the first place, Ootori-Kun. Is it simply because you want her thinking that she's able to make you happy with her low commoner standards or probably because deep down you're afraid of meeting me once you've heard about my return? You surely realize that you can't keep an eye on her or hide our secrets from her forever."

When Reina finished her sentence, the corner of her dark brown eyes glanced at the direction of the food court and a crooked smile could be seen on her beautiful face when she returned her gaze back at him once again.

Somehow, upon noticing what the girl just said and did; for a second Kyouya's heart almost missed a beat. Thus as if moved by instincts, his onyx eyes flickered at the exact same place that Reina just glanced at. And somehow there was an odd relief lingered on his flawless face for a fracture second before he returned his gaze to stare at the girl once again.

"It's obviously _none_ of your business, Nakashima-San," replied Kyouya sounded almost defensive a moment later.

"I believe it _is_ my business indeed, Ootori-Kun. I remember it vividly that tomorrow is _our_ son's first birthday and yet you seem to have already set your mind on celebrating it with her instead of his own mother," said Reina with a hint of bitterness and anger in her tone. Somehow there was no trace of her usual cheerfulness once she finished her sentence as an aberrant sadness swept over her face almost instantly. She averted her gaze from Kyouya and chose to stare at some children playing in one corner of the large food court instead.

However, Kyouya did not show any inclinations that he was aware or care even for the slightest with the sudden forlorn on the girl's beautiful face. He merely stared at her with an intimidating gleam apparent in his onyx eyes. His tone was oddly calm when he spoke a moment later, "I am afraid I don't see any points of continuing this meaningless talk with you, Nakashima-San. I will have to take my leave."

Upon hearing Kyouya's last sentence, Reina looked startled and quickly returned her gaze at him. In an instant, her usual cheerful-self reappeared together with an exuberant smile. Yet there was an unexplainable spark in her eyes as she clutched her branded handbag even tighter before she opened her mouth once again.

"No need to be all defensive, Ootori-Kun. Besides, I'm not coming all the way here to confront her; I know it's nearly impossible for me to do that anyway especially considering all the SPs arrangements you've surely set in this place for her beforehand," said Reina softly.

Although her voice was light and somewhat emotionless, her trembling handbag had clearly revealed a completely different impression of how she really felt at that exact moment. And somehow there was a thin glaze of uncharacteristic coldness covering her dark brown eyes as soon as she let go her eye contacts with Kyouya only to stare at the same exact snack counter of the food court nearby once again.

Without bothered to return her gaze to Kyouya, Reina continued her sentence with a voice that was much firmer than before, "After all, I only want to show you that your little perfect precautions or protections whatever you call them nowadays can be easily broken by me anytime I want. You must understand that _nothing_ can stop me from taking back everything that's rightfully mine to begin with as it clearly will _never_ be hers no matter how hard you try to anyway, Ootori-Kun."

Kyouya could not help but feeling crestfallen as the words from Reina had managed to sting his heart. Somehow, those words had made him stared unconsciously to the used to be a crowded queue of the snack counter at the food court nearby which was oddly empty by then. For the first time that day he no longer cared whether Reina would catch him staring at the place where the most important person in his life was standing awhile ago.

And somehow once Reina noticed what her words had just done to Kyouya, the same sweet smile returned on her face. Her syrupy voice filled up the devastating silence between them when she stated in a matter-of-factly tone a second later, "Let me assure you, Ootori-Kun; if there's a person who'll end up in regrets this time, it definitely will _not_ be me."

--

Haruhi was quite startled when somebody tapped her shoulder gently from behind as she was still busily gazing at the menu glued on the wall of the snacks counter. Instinctively, she turned her head only to find Tachibana stared at her with an almost inquiring look.

Completely oblivious with the faint frown shown on the guy's face once their eyes met, Haruhi merely returned her gaze to the menu without further ado.

Her face was glowing in an apparent happiness as she spoke almost dreamily the next second, "I'm sorry for taking a long time to decide what I actually want, Tachibana-San. I am still wondering which one I should buy… I must say that all of them look very nice indeed..."

Still with her gaze transfixed on the menu, Haruhi caressed Hajime's black hair gently and added with a slight hesitancy hinted on her tone, "I completely forgot to ask Kyouya-Senpai what he wants…"

Haruhi sighed inaudibly before she turned her head a little to take a peek at Kyouya.

"I think I should…"

Haruhi's sentence was hung midway once she noticed that the two nurses were blocking her view when she was trying to glance at Kyouya's direction.

However before she could ask anything regarding their peculiar behaviours, Tachibana had quickly interjected her with, "I am afraid we have to leave now, Fujioka-Sama."

"Eh?" gasped Haruhi in surprise and quickly glanced at the tall guy to check whether he was trying to throw a lame prank at her just because it took a long time for her to decide the snacks that she wanted to buy in the first place. However, her big amber eyes widened once she noticed the serious look on Tachibana's face which clearly shown that he really meant with every word he just stated to her.

But still as far as she remembered, they were supposed to watch the dolphins' show that would be played in fifteen minutes time. That was the main reason why she went to buy some snacks anyway. She was completely unaware with the abrupt change of the plan especially when Kyouya never mentioned anything about it beforehand.

Nevertheless, without waiting Haruhi to recover from her surprise; Tachibana gestured one of the nurses to steer Haruhi away from that place while the other tried to seize the little boy from her.

At that moment, although Haruhi was still utterly astounded with the current situation, she impulsively refused to let the little boy being carried by the nurse and merely tightened her grip on the little boy in a protective manner instead.

"Wait, Tachibana-San. Why do we have to leave this place all of a sudden? What about Kyouya-Senpai. We obviously can't leave him behind without informing him like this," stated Haruhi impatiently as she chose to stay rooted on the spot.

"There's no need for you to be worried about Ootori-Sama, Fujioka-Sama. After all, it is _his_ wish for you to proceed on going to the next place. He will see you immediately after he finishes his prior engagement."

It was Haruhi's turn to frown upon hearing the absurd explanation that she just got from Tachibana. She knew that the guy was most probably telling the truth that Kyouya was the one who instructed him such a peculiar task in the first place. It was that guy's style after all to decide everything himself without even bothered to take other people's feeling into his consideration. Still, she would never allow herself to be bossed around by him all the time. It was his obligations after all to give her at least a proper explanation before instructing some strange orders to his staffs like that.

"I am not trying to be rude, Tachibana-San. However, I would like to have a word with Kyouya-Senpai first before I can decide whether I should follow you or not," stated Haruhi firmly as she turned around to the opposite direction only to feel somebody tugged her waist to stop her from behind.

And Haruhi was more than surprise by the time she realized that it was a stranger who did that. The only dim recollection that she had was that he was one of the people who queued behind her at the snack stall all the while. But still it did not justify his act at all since even for an expressionless girl like her that kind of behaviour was still beyond comprehension.

"Hey… What the hell are you doing? Let me go now or else…" stated Haruhi as she tried to remain calm as she glanced at the guy whom still held her closely.

And much to her bewilderment, Tachibana and the two nurses merely stared at her without any inclinations to help her escaping from her current embarrassing scene. However when there was no sign that the guy would loosen his grip any time soon, Haruhi added in more exasperated tone than before, "Tachibana-San, help me!"

To add her frustration further, the tall guy whom she just asked for his assistance merely signalled one of the nurses to take Hajime from her arms as gentle as possible. This time Haruhi gave up her clutch on the small boy without any struggle as she worried that they might end up hurting him instead.

And once Hajime was secured on the nurse's arms, the same guy who grabbed her waist heaved her on his shoulder almost effortlessly as if she was a mere sack of potatoes and started to walk away with the nurses and Tachibana scurried swiftly behind them.

Yet for once Haruhi was lost for words and unconsciously stopped trying to get away from the strong grip on her waist once she incidentally set her eyes to one particular place nearby. For once she finally had an unblocked view towards the direction where Kyouya stood all by himself the last time she left him.

Yet at the moment he definitely was _not_ alone.

Almost like she was whispering to herself; Haruhi spoke in a barely audible voice, "Nakashima-Senpai…"

--

With the exception of Haruhi and Hajime, the rest of the group spent their time walking silently for nearly ten minutes. Ironically, it seemed that she was the only one who felt frustrated with the current situation since the little boy looked quite excited after all. He had been mumbling some incoherent words while clapping his small hands happily as the nurse carried him in her arms.

Along the way, Haruhi had been constantly protesting and squirming as hard as she could to escape from the same guy whom still hauling her on his shoulder with Tachibana and the two nurses followed closely behind them. However much to her annoyance, nothing she said or did managed to make even the smallest effects on either him or the rest of the group members.

In the end, she could only bitterly think that it was definitely not one of her best days when she finally noticed that none of the bystanders whom they accidentally met along the way had come to her rescue. All of them seemed to have failed to grasp the abnormalities of the scenery shoved in front of their noses; as if it was a daily basis for them to see a girl being carried on a guy's shoulder. By the look of it, they even ignored the obvious signs of squirming and hissings from her part which clearly shown that she had never given her consent on being treated like that in the first place.

Therefore, a small part of her could not help but wondering whether all those peculiarities were some parts of a sick conspiracy with Kyouya as the main intellectual thinker behind it. And somehow that thought alone had managed to send a sudden chill all over her body.

But when Haruhi tried to reconsider everything that had happened that afternoon, she could not help but hesitated with her own thought. She knew all along that Kyouya was not a guy who did things without any rationality behind them to begin with. Furthermore, as far as she remembered, that guy did not even want to join them at all in the first place. Thus, it was quite unbelievable for him to alter her plan in such a short span of time especially when it obviously served _no_ purpose at all.

Yet knowing that she was dealing with Kyouya Ootori no less, anything no matter how unlikely it might be was not totally impossible after all.

--

Haruhi stopped her train of thoughts almost instantly by the time she noticed that they were definitely not heading to the car park. By then, she could not help but feeling utterly flabbergasted and slightly worried once she realized that they were walking towards the opposite direction instead.

That awareness alone was more than enough reason for Haruhi to finally snap out of her frustration while completely disregarded the effectiveness of the method itself.

"Hey, where on earth do you want to bring me to? Let go of me _NOW_!" shouted Haruhi impatiently with the loudest voice she could muster.

And she realized much too late that it was a _very_ bad way and _literally_ stupid to ever try to ask a bunch of less-talk-more-action type of adults while a toddler also happened to be around the vicinity.

Her angered voice had only succeeded in making the situation worsened since Hajime was definitely terrified with the harsh tone she accidentally slipped out and ended up crying loudly instead. Yet there was nothing much that they could do in the end except to wait for Hajime's cry to subside after he recovered from his shock since none of the nurses seemed to be able to pacify him at all.

--

Even before her guilty feelings after what she had indirectly done to Hajime had a chance to recede, Haruhi could not help but gaped in disbelief and looked very much alarmed once she saw the scenery before her own eyes. A guy who wore a pilot uniform bowed courteously towards their direction as he opened the side door of something that looked very much like a helicopter.

It was not the first time actually for Haruhi to see a real helicopter in such close proximity. She had seen it once during one of her crazy days when she was still in Ouran with the rest of the host club members. She only remembered that her supposed to be simple life had vanished before her very own eyes once she entangled her life with them no matter how much unwillingly she was in the first place. Simplicity had practically gone from her life and only remained as a pointless imagery since then.

All of the host club members especially Tamaki always succeeded in giving her seizures and fits because of their natural knacks in exaggerating every normal situation and turned it into a horrendous one without much ado.

And it was exactly what had happened on that particular _tragic_ day.

The fact was simple as always. She merely stayed at Suzie's inn temporarily during her summer holiday to have some part-time jobs there while her father was away for a company's trip. It was something she could roughly guess that Kyouya would have been informed beforehand by none other than her father himself. Yet somehow that guy had '_conveniently_' failed to share the knowledge with any of his friends especially Tamaki for some reasons that she preferred not to know at all in fear of losing her sanity soon.

Therefore, thanks to the blonde guy and his obsessive-compulsive behaviour; he had been procreating the worst and most absurd scenario that was more likely to happen in a low-budget movie rather than in reality.

Together with the rest of the host club members, he came to Karuizawa to '_save_' her from a horrible kidnapping attempt. And that day was marked as the day she saw a real helicopter in such a close distance. Still, considering all the excessiveness and completely unnecessary uproar happened on that particular sunny day, she would definitely be more than happy _not _to see it at all in the first place.

--

That day happened just like it was yesterday once she saw a real helicopter again for the second time in her life. Somehow it made her having a very bad hunch about what might happen next.

And all her logic had gone to the drain as soon as a painful understanding seeped in to her mind.

"Wait… Don't tell me we're going to _ride _that thing. Where are we going anyway, Tachibana-San? I don't even have a _passport_ to begin with," said Haruhi exasperatedly in the gentlest tone that she could possibly mutter; not wanting Hajime to suffer yet another shock from her outburst even when she was actually on the verge of doing it. She could not care less on how stupid her reasoning must have sound to the rest of the group as well as the guy in the pilot suit. For the most important thing to her at the moment was to stop the whole ordeal before it gone out off hand.

Yet somehow Haruhi felt she no longer wanted to hear the answer anymore upon noticing the odd expression on Tachibana's face when he finally stared at her once again soon after they were close enough with the helicopter.

Still, the tall guy merely bowed a little to her before he spoke in his usual polite manner, "Passports will not be needed for this trip, Fujioka-Sama. We're only going to Ootori-Sama's private island."

For Haruhi, it was definitely an understatement to say '_only_' in such a preposterous statement. She never recalled of ever agreeing to go to an unknown island for no obvious reason especially when the main perpetrator himself was nowhere to be seen.

And for the second time around, Hajime's wail could be heard once again as Haruhi went ballistic, "I'm not going to any damn islands _before_ I have a word with Kyouya Ootori first!"

* * *

_**2 years 3 months 8 days before…..**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Bedroom**_

"_I never thought that there will be a day for our shadow king to fall in love, Kaoru," snickered Hikaru in his usual mocking tone as he glanced daringly towards the darkened figure whom was just being forced to wake up by their sudden presence inside his bedroom. _

"_Especially with a girl that he has no interest whatsoever in the first place, Hikaru," replied Kaoru in a more or less the same tone with the one used by his twin. There was a devilish glint in his eyes as he looked at the very same figure whom by then already stood up from his bed and loomed menacingly next to one of the magnificent bedposts. _

"_Can any of you _enlighten_ me since I am completely lost with the purpose of you barging in to my house particularly on Sunday morning like this when all of you obviously know the fact that I hate to be disturbed on my holiday? It seems the only thing you do up until now is _solely_ to annoy me," asked Kyouya sarcastically. His handsome face somewhat looked gloomier than usual yet alerted all the same. _

"_Ah… It's a very touching moment for me indeed to realize that Mother has finally grown up and started to embrace the romantic side of him that he has abandoned for far too long…" replied Tamaki as he shed the corner of his violet eyes dramatically with the corner of his long sleeves. _

_There was an obvious frown etched on the shadow king's face when he finally opened his mouth once again, "Please save your overactive imagination to someone else who _actually_ gives a damn care, Tamaki."_

"_Oh, somebody's feeling _cranky_ today..." mocked the twins while they pretended to be terrified with the subtle threat that somewhat emitting from Kyouya. _

"_Now… now… There is no need of you to feel embarrass at all, Mother. We all understand what you're going through at the moment. And obviously as your best friends we feel obliged to share one or two tips about girls and love particularly. At least that's the main reason why all of us come here amidst the _hectic_ life we have…" stated Tamaki concernedly as he walked towards Kyouya in a manner that was clearly shown nothing less than a careless confident. He patted his best friend's shoulder gently and completely oblivious with the murderous look on Kyouya's pale face even before he finished his sentence. _

"_Aww… Please tell us that we won't turn into a grouchy monster soon after we fall in love, Tono," taunted the twins once again. They were certainly not as clueless as the blonde guy was especially when it came to recognizing the possible danger from Kyouya when he was really angry. Nevertheless, there was nothing more entertaining than teasing the livid shadow king especially when he was supposed to be the most composed person among all of them. _

_And surely enough, Kyouya stood from the settee in a menacing manner as he roared, "YOU!"_

_However, their bickering stopped almost at once upon hearing a soft chuckle that originated from a person who sat quietly on one corner of the expensive settee nearby. All of them turned their heads in an instant only to find Haruhi trying to muffle her laugh with one of her hand covering her mouth slightly. _

"_Do you mind to share with us what_ exactly are _you laughing about, Haruhi?" asked Kyouya coldly as an apparent frown appeared on his flawless face. The anger boiling inside him subsided as his gaze met Haruhi's big amber eyes that were staring him back without any slightest hesitation. _

"_Ah… I am so sorry for laughing at you, Kyouya-Senpai. However, I can't stop thinking that it's quite _amusing _for me__ to see the other side of you appears so unexpectedly like this for a change," said Haruhi straightforwardly. The smile on her face was even more apparent and her eyes twinkling radiantly as soon as her sentence ended. _

"_And may I know what other side of me is that, Haruhi?" retorted Kyouya in a tone that was completely different than the one he used a moment ago. Somehow the look on Haruhi's beautiful face alone almost made him forgotten about any of his displeasures towards the rest of his friends. _

_Haruhi tilted her head a little as she answered, "That beneath all those cold façades you are truly a warm person indeed, Kyouya-Senpai. I guess it happens naturally when it comes to the person that you like after all, Senpai_

_The irony of the words that came from Haruhi's mouth somehow had made Kyouya lost all his abilities to retort with his usual sarcasms. _

_Yet without any of them ever aware of; for a completely different reason, Tamaki also looked just as unhappy as Kyouya did once he heard Haruhi's last sentence. _

--

_**Approximately six days earlier…..**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

"_Do you have some spare time, Ootori-Kun? I want to have a word with you."_

_Kyouya did not show any inclinations that he noticed somebody just speaking with him and merely focused all his attention towards his laptop instead. However, the person whom just spoke to him did not even look troubled with the lack of hospitality she got from him. She seemed to take the silence he showed her at the moment as a signal of approval to continue with the next sentence instead._

"_I want to invite you for my birthday dinner next Saturday at Palazzo, Ootori-Kun," she added confidently. Although Kyouya did not move his gaze to see her directly, she knew perfectly by the way he stopped typing; the guy was paying attention to what she just said after all. _

_There was a moment of painful silence when Kyouya sighed inaudibly. He pushed his glasses towards the brink of his nose before he picked his words carefully and spoke with impatience hinted in every word he said, "I am afraid I have to decline your generous offer, Nakashima-San."_

"_Why? Do you have any other plans on that day? I can change the date if that's the case," answered Reina almost at once while staring at Kyouya unabashedly with her deep brown eyes. There was a tinge of blushes appeared on her cheeks when the guy finally turned his gaze to look at her. _

_Kyouya shot Reina with his usual calculating look before he stated in a matter-of-factly tone, "Didn't you just tell me that it's supposed to be your birthday dinner? How you can postpone something that _important _for such an insignificant reason like the one you just gave me is quite… ah… _incomprehensible_ for me if I may say, Nakashima-San."_

"_On the contrary Ootori-Kun; it _is_ very important for me. It was _so_ important indeed that I don't need anyone else to attend it _but_ you," replied Reina simply. _

_A faint frown emerged on Kyouya's flawless face for a fracture second upon hearing Reina's reply before he pushed his glasses lightly as he spoke once again, "I must say I am truly honoured with what you just said, Nakashima-San. However, I'm afraid my answer will always _remain_ the same."_

_Reina chuckled softly as if she found Kyouya's answer to be particularly funny. _

_Still with a hint of a laugh on her tone; she stated happily, "You can always tell me if you feel the necessity to change your mind, Ootori-Kun. My offer is still valid until the day itself anyway."_

_Kyouya returned her gaze to his laptop once again as he gave his final answer, "I'm afraid there is nothing that will make me change my mind no matter how long you wait, Nakashima-San."_

"_Even when it relates with Fujioka-Kun and _his_… ah, how insensitive of me, I mean, _her_ little secret, Ootori-Kun?"_

_Kyouya's onyx eyes flashed dangerously at Reina as soon as he heard her candid remarks. However she did not even flinch and merely continued smiling like usual as if she was completely oblivious with the impacts of her words on him. _

_At that time, somehow there was an unsettling feeling slowly growing inside him once Kyouya began to understand that he had_ finally_ met his match. _

--

_**Around two days later…..**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

"_May I join you? It's pretty boring to sit all by myself in there," said Reina with a slight hesitancy on her tone. Her eyes flickered to the place where she sat alone awhile ago. _

"_It's our pleasure, Nakashima-Senpai. We're just waiting for Fujioka-Kun to host us next," answered the two girls sitting in front of her almost at the same time. _

"_By the way I don't see him anywhere…" answered the girl with a ponytail enthusiastically as she stared at Reina once the girl already sat in front of her. _

"_I thought he's with you since our turn with him is still 30 minutes away, Senpai," said the other girl with a slightly softer tone as she twiddled some strands of her curly hair with her forefinger. _

"_Ah, I just ask him to buy something for me…" Reina stopped and giggle for a moment before she continued in a lower tone that somewhat hinted a conspiracy, "It's a lame excuse since actually…" _

_She hung her sentence midway and bit her lower lips slightly, as if she was contemplating with her mind on whether or not she should continue with her sentence. _

_Nevertheless, the way Reina spoke made the two girls looked even keener to listen to whatever she wanted to say next. _

_And upon noticing that she had finally caught the two girls' attentions, Reina leaned forward and whispered, "I want to know more about him without he ever finds out. Therefore I really need some good advice about him from both of you since I notice that you're Fujioka-Kun's regulars for only God knows how long. You see… I want to give him a _surprise_ for our one-month anniversary which is the day after tomorrow." _

"_Ah… How romantic, Senpai. Of course we're glad to keep it as a secret for you, aren't we Nao-Chan?" replied the girl with a ponytail quickly. _

_She glanced at her curly-haired friend whom nodded supportively at her before she added, "Besides no one knows Fujioka-Kun better than we do since we are one of the first clients he has."_

"_Beside the other boys from the club of course, Mika-Chan…" interrupted Nao enthusiastically._

_Mika nodded in agreement with what Nao just said before she spoke once again, "But there's no need for you to feel worried, Senpai. It will be much different when the attention comes from a girl as pretty as you instead of from some other boys. I am sure Fujioka-Kun will appreciate it." _

"_Yeah, it's a pity that we never thought of it before," said Nao with a tinge of regret hinted on her tone. _

_Reina whispered interestedly as a strange glint emerged at the corner of her deep brown eyes, "Are they always very close? I mean all the boys from the host club… _including_ Fujioka-Kun?" _

_Nao smiled dreamily as if she was trying to re-enact the imagery of the host club before she answered, "They're very close just like real brothers and I guess somehow the rest of the guys seem to be quite protective when it comes to Fujioka-Kun's affairs. But nobody can really blame them anyway. All the girls here agree that Fujioka-Kun is always too sweet and innocent to be a boy."_

_Upon listening to what her best friend just explained to Reina, Mika could not restrain herself from saying, "Ah… Do you remember Ayanokoji-San's incident or the one that happened during our trip in Ootori-Kun's private beach last time, Nao-Chan?" _

_Nao's eyes widened in surprise almost at once and quickly glanced around before she spoke nervously to Mika, "Ssh… We're not supposed to mention those things ever again, Mika-Chan. I don't want to be banned by the club if they ever find out that we were gossiping about those forbidden topics." _

_The strange glint was even more eminent for a fracture second in Reina's eyes upon hearing last conversation between the two completely oblivious girls in front of her. However it vanished very quickly almost at the same time when the two girls returned her gaze to her once again. _

"_I'm really sorry to ask you this, Senpai. But can you keep anything that I just told you to yourself?" asked Nao worriedly as she exchanged a quick glance with her best friend. She just realized the potential danger of her supposed to be harmless remarks. _

"_We will be in a very deep trouble if any of the host club members hear about this," added Mika in the same worried tone as her best friend. _

_Reina smiled reassuringly to those two panic-stricken girls before she replied sweetly, "No need to worry, Nao-Chan, Mika-Chan; you can trust me. I am _always_ very good at keeping secrets." _

_At that exact moment, her dark brown eyes glanced towards the door where Haruhi just appeared from behind it a moment before only to be literally dragged away by Tamaki towards the place where Kyouya sat at the moment. _

_And in a matter of seconds, Reina could see an apparent smirk appeared on Kyouya's face as soon as he set his onyx eyes at the person whom Tamaki just brought to him. He looked somewhat relaxed and natural in front of that person, completely different with how he seemed to behave himself whenever he was around the girls from the host club including herself. And somehow the scenery alone had made Reina felt hollow and slightly hurt at the same time. _

_However, when Reina returned her gaze back to the two girls; there was no trace of displeasure in her voice as she said cheerfully, "By the way, I can't agree more with your opinions about Fujioka-Kun, Nao-Chan…"_

"_Eh?" gasped Nao and Mika in surprise almost at the same time. Both of them were unaware that Reina's warm smile and happy tone at that time never reached her dark brown eyes. _

_And still with her usual sweet smile; Reina glanced at Haruhi once again before added lightly, "He's _indeed_ too sweet and innocent to be a boy." _

--

_**Later part that afternoon…..**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Study Room**_

"_Is this all you got for today, Tachibana?" asked Kyouya without even looking at the person whom he was speaking with. His onyx eyes flickered with wariness as he continued watching the video showing three girls in Ouran's uniform deeply immersed in their conversation. _

_Tachibana bowed a little before he answered diplomatically, "I am afraid it is, Ootori-Sama." _

_Kyouya sighed before he said impassively, "You can dismiss yourself now."_

_Tachibana bowed courteously for the last time before he retreated himself from the room. _

_--_

_There was a slight frown etched on Kyouya's handsome face as he pressed the rewind button from the remote control he had held tightly on his hand ever since he sat on the settee facing the large plasma screen in front of him. It was not the first time he did it that afternoon and most probably would not be his last. _

_And his frown went even deeper when he pushed the play button only to replay the same exact scene that he had been watching for the last couple of hours. His stomach still squirmed uneasily whenever he saw the last scene from the video that Tachibana brought to him earlier that afternoon. _

"He's _indeed_ too sweet and innocent to be a boy."

--

_**Exactly 48 hours later…..**_

_**3rd Music Room**_

_Kyouya raised his face slightly from his laptop before he shot a calculating look at the girl whom just entered the 3rd music room. For a fracture moment his onyx eyes glanced at the large thin box that she carried in her arms. _

"_Ah… Why are you here alone, Ootori-Kun? Where are the others?" asked the girl almost instantly once she realized that Kyouya was alone in there._

_There was a moment of silence before Kyouya pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose as if contemplating with his own thoughts. Only in less than a fracture second later, he spoke in his usual polite tone, "Ah, how silly of me. I must have forgotten to inform you that there's a slight change for the host club activity today, Nakashima-San. I am terribly sorry for my negligence on this matter and the inconvenience that might incur on your side. It's _absolutely_ my mistake for not checking through my lists carefully. I promise you it won't happen again next time." _

_For a second Reina's face went blank as if she was very surprised with the answer she got from Kyouya. It was obviously something unexpected for her to hear such reply in the first place. However no sooner than a couple of seconds later she smiled sweetly as usual. _

_No trace of other kinds of emotion beside happiness could be seen on her beautiful face as she replied softly, "Ah, it's not your mistake at all, Ootori-Kun. It's very stupid for me not to check with Fujioka-Kun beforehand. But all I want is to give him an _unforgettable_ surprise for our one-month anniversary which happens to be today."_

"_I guess it's quite _dangerous_ to assume on things sometimes, Nakashima-San," answered Kyouya rather tactfully. _

_Reina sighed a little as she replied with much less cheerful tone than before, "I can't agree more with you on that matter, Ootori-Kun."_

_Yet before Kyouya could give further response, sounds of footsteps could be heard clearly from the corridor outside the room. _

_And somehow his face went slightly paler than usual once the main door of the 3rd music room opened only to reveal a flushed-looking Haruhi followed closely by two enthusiastic girls whom he saw on the video the day before. _

_--_

_Mika glanced at her best friend before she spoke in her usual enthusiasms, "I told you that we can find Nakashima-Senpai here, Nao-Chan." _

"_We've been looking all over the west garden for you, Senpai. It's quite surprising not to see you there in the first place," stated Nao cheerfully as she nodded in agreement with what her best friend just said. _

_She shot Reina with an understanding look before continued lightly, "The host club's outing activity today will certainly give you the right ambiance for your big day but you're nowhere to be found, Nakashima-Senpai. That's when Mika-Chan realized that probably you haven't heard about the changing venue and went here instead. Thus, we thought it will be more practical to bring Fujioka-Kun here with us rather than merely informing you where he is."_

_The same strange glint reappeared once again in Reina dark brown eyes as she replied happily, "Ah… Thanks a lot for your help in bringing Fujioka-Kun here. You can't imagine how I am really _dying_ to see him today..." She giggled softly and a light blush soon appeared on her pale cheeks as she stepped forwards to face a flabbergasted-looking Haruhi. _

_However almost at the same time when Reina wanted to pass the box she held carefully all along in her arms, Kyouya suddenly stood up from his chair and interrupted her next sentence with a tinge of wariness in his tone, "_Wait_…"_

_--_

_Kyouya could feel rather than see every pair of eyes from the other three girls bore on him as he focused his gaze on Reina. Yet he chose to ignore them together with the rest of the emotions mixed inside him. _

_When he spoke once again, his face was as emotionless as his tone, "I believe that box is _mine_, Nakashima-San."_

"_And what makes you think so, Ootori-Kun?" asked Reina patiently. Somehow her face looked slightly amused._

_There was no trace of hesitation in Kyouya's tone as he gave her his answer, "It's simply because I will be going to Palazzo tomorrow, Nakashima-San."_

_Yet he could not diminish the hurtful pang in his chest when his onyx eyes caught Haruhi's astonishment upon hearing his words. He averted his gaze from her only to pretend that everything would be alright as soon as the next day passed by safely._

_However the sensation that he felt at that moment was swept away in a matter of second and turned into coldness instead once he saw the sweet smile apparent on Reina's glowing face._

_Still, there was nothing that could waiver Reina's happiness even when she noticed the lack of enthusiasms in Kyouya's tone. _

_In the end she simply stated, "You can't imagine how _happy_ I am to hear that, Ootori-Kun." _

_--_

_The next moment passed by almost like a big blurry scene to Kyouya. He could not distinguish whether Reina did it on purpose or not when she accidentally stumbled into one of the legs of the expensive coffee table nearby as she walked towards him. And it was too late for him to reach for the box once Haruhi grabbed Reina's waist to help her avoiding of knocking her head over the same table._

_And soon enough, a menacing gleam was apparent on Kyouya's onyx eyes once he set his gaze on the content of the box that was laid open because of the incident. It was definitely something he never thought Reina would give to Haruhi in the first place, especially after he listened to her last remark on the video the day before. _

_--_

_Kyouya just realized a tad too late that he had thoroughly overlooked the fact that the girl never said anything about giving Haruhi a present to begin with. All the while she merely mentioned her plan of giving her an _unforgettable_ surprise without mentioning anything specific about it. _

_At that time, he knew that it was his mistake to lose his rationality completely over his own feelings. He was too overconfident that Reina would only bring harm to Haruhi that made him forgotten the most important fact; she was _not_ her main target. He was. _

_And it only made Kyouya even angrier with himself once he heard the comments given voluntarily by one of the girls, "Ooh… That's really a posh tuxedo you have there, Nakashima-Senpai. Don't you think so too, Nao-Chan?"_

"_I can't agree more with you, Mika-Chan. Still, I am very confused whose that tuxedo belongs to in the first place since I thought it's supposed to be Fujioka-Kun's. But if I am not mistaken I think I just heard Ootori-Kun said it's supposed to be his," stated the other girl with an obvious befuddled expression._

_Reina calmly bent her body slightly as she reached over the box completely unperturbed with the girls' comments. She merely walked towards where Kyouya stood at the moment with the box carefully held in her arms. _

_And in between the squeals and the giggles that were coming from both Nao and Mika; Kyouya could hear Reina spoke loud and clear for all of them including Haruhi to hear, "He's right when he said it was his, Nao-Chan. I bought this especially for you since I know _you _will look perfect in it, Ootori-Kun. It will be lovely to see you wearing it for my birthday tomorrow…" _

_Yet in a much different tone than before, Reina spoke in a barely audible voice as she passed the box to him, "I guess it's _really_ dangerous to assume on things, isn't it, Ootori-Kun?" _

-- to be continued --

**A/N:** I must say it's quite relieving for me to finally finish this chapter. Enjoy and give me your comments or reviews. Cheers!

**P.S.** Don't forget to read my other fanfic titled '_The Ghost of You._' It is still a Haruhi and Kyouya fic but written based on a completely different angle than this one...

Thanks to all of your cool reviews: **DevilHeart13**, **Kichou**, **Everqueen**, **Sparks of Life**, **I-ARE-COOL**, **Magician April Aries**, **PolskaGir**l, **Asurahaya020**, **Death By Squishy**, **fantine89**, **Cole Adams**, **Vigorian-Asakura**, **wiwionly**, **Reason**, **ThreeDayOfRomance**, **monedameow**, **Runaway Love**, **waizzz**, **anon**, **SecretLittleWhiteLie**, **dethhauntssister**, **marn**, **chinpunkanpun**, **pink will never be red**, **MischievousPuck**, **PA0PU**, **flameblessed**, **Matahari**, **Star Garden**, **fruiti-chan**, **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot**, **kaq20**, **gigi0203**, **glazedeyes**, **xXx Tohru xXx**, **innocent school girl**; I really appreciate your comments and supports.


	10. Nine

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

-- _**Nine**_ --

Haruhi Fujioka; age eighteen, never knew that somehow she had bode her freedom goodbye from the day she incidentally stepped in to what she thought as an empty 3rd music room. She once even thought that she had finally regained her liberty back ever since her graduation day; the day when the twins hugged her tightly and cried out dramatically in unison that they had to leave for Paris on the very same day.

She still smiled every time remembering their promise that they would return back to her again one day only to be bluntly replied by a simple statement from her that they could take their time. All the time in the world, she immediately took a mental note inwardly afterwards.

It was not that she disliked the idea of meeting with them again. But the temptation of having a well-deserved break from all the chaos and insanity that kept on chasing her wherever the members of the Ouran High Host Club were around was too grand to let go just like that. She surely missed all of them but at the same time she also missed her old world when everything around her evolved with things that she could sanely understand and not some randomly crazy behaviours from a bunch of ultra-rich teenagers.

Yet for some reasons, the twins did not reply her blunt remarks with any of their usual mocks and merely smiled wickedly at her. Somehow she could not shake off the impression that they knew something that she obviously had missed out. It was very wise; she thought at that time, to never ask what the meaning behind their peculiarities was and just simply ignored it for good. Besides, it was not like she would meet any of the host club members again anytime soon anyway.

But it seemed that she was wrong once again when the most unlikely person among all the host club members showed up out of the blue in front of her doorstep only a couple of months later; messing up with her life in a way that was only the host club members could pull out.

It was none other than Kyouya Ootori; age nineteen, whom had decided one-sidedly to make her worked as the nanny of his son she never knew he had in the first place until that very same day when he returned back into her life.

--

Haruhi never bothered to think about the specific reason why she seemed to be submissive when it came to the host club members specifically the one by the name of Kyouya Ootori.

Still, a tiny part of her had failed to deny that she actually had the chances of rejecting his proposal in the first place. However she was not a type of person who would fuss over such matter by giving a thorough thought or so. In the end, she merely shook off any other possible reasons other than lending a hand for a close friend in need. She only made a mental note that it was no more than a slight sidetrack from her used to be ordinary days, something that could surely happen to anyone else. At that time, she was pretty sure that she would never let herself give in to any of Kyouya's absurd ideas that easily again anyway.

Yet she could only curse herself silently as she sat inside the helicopter together with the rest of the group. Somehow, she finally agreed to go to one of the Ootori's private islands just like what Kyouya had decided without asking her approval in the first place.

More to her comfort rather than any other reasons, she only wanted to think that the main reason why she decided to go there this time was _strictly_ because she did not want Hajime to suffer another shock from her unnecessary not to mention childish tantrums anymore. It was surely nothing else other than the obligation to accompany the boy since she was supposed to be his nanny after all.

So there she was, with Hajime securely cuddled under her tight hug, standing in front of what looked like a brigade of maids and chamberlains all bowed courteously to her once the group stepped out from the helicopter.

Not very far from where she was at the moment, Haruhi could see a house that very much resembled a castle from the storybooks that her mother used to read for her every night when she was young. She could only assume that it would be the place where she would be staying for the night. And somehow thinking about that fact alone had made her stomach squirmed uneasily.

As if confirming the bad feeling she had; before they even reached the doorstep a middle-aged guy dressed neatly in tuxedo came from inside the house in haste steps. As soon as he gave Haruhi a respective bow, the guy whispered something to Tachibana in a low voice. Judging from the gloomy expressions and the secrecy that was obviously shown from both of the guys, Haruhi knew something unexpected had just happened and it was surely not a happy sort of surprise for either of them.

At that point, almost like she merely tried to convince herself rather than anyone else that she had done the correct thing by going there in the first place, Haruhi took a deep breath before she adamantly whispered to the boy, "We will be having fun today, Hajime-Chan."

--

There were only very few occasions that could make Kyouya Ootori very angry for he was a very reserved person to begin with. It was only like on circumstances where he had to wake up before eleven o'clock in the morning or when things did not go according to his expectation that could make him lost his temper. And as an inborn perfectionist, between those two occasions; the latter always provoked him more than the first.

"What do you mean he's there? Didn't you check that he's supposed to be in Beijing for the rest of the month? Why didn't anyone inform me about this beforehand?" asked Kyouya in an intimidating tone. His onyx eyes veiled under his bangs as he gripped his hand phone until all his knuckles turned white.

There was a hesitant pause before the person on the other line answered warily, "I am really sorry for only informing you now Ootori-Sama. It seems that he cancelled his plan all of a sudden and went here instead. Furthermore, he strictly forbade everyone inside the house from informing you about his arrival."

Kyouya inhaled his breath deeply in an obvious attempt to try to calm his anger before he spoke more menacingly than before, "Where's Haruhi and Hajime? Don't let him see either of them before I reach there, understand?"

However the answer that Kyouya was waiting for never came. Instead, there was only silence on the other line that forced him to add impatiently.

"Tachibana?"

And when there was still no answer from the person whom Kyouya trusted most, he knew there was only one possible answer that could explain the peculiarity of the situation.

As if confirming what Kyouya thought a moment before, there was a voice in a tone not much different than the one he just used could be heard from the other line, "And may I know the reason _why_ you don't want me to see both of them, Kyouya?"

Upon hearing the voice that he had not heard for almost a year, Kyouya only said, "Father…"

There were no warmth in his voice as Yoshio Ootori continued his sentence at the next moment; just like there was no interruption from his son, "I expect to see you soon, Kyouya. Meanwhile, I will be contented to have a nice conversation with Miss Fujioka before your arrival."

--

It had been quite some time after the person on the other line hung up the phone yet Kyouya still held the hand phone closely to his ear as if he was unconscious with what he was doing at the moment.

It was only when somebody's voice broke his reverie that forced Kyouya to finally return his attention to his present situation.

"Is everything all right, Ootori-Sama?" asked the person in a careful manner; as if trying to decipher whether it was a wise decision of him to ask such question in the first place.

Kyouya's onyx eyes flickered for a fracture seconds at the person whom just spoke to him before he answered with an indignant tone, "I'm _fine_. Just make sure that we reach the island as soon as possible."

The guy in the pilot uniform nodded a little and did not dare to disturb the young master further as he noticed Kyouya's darkened mood soon after the conversation on the phone ended. He obviously did not want to provoke him more by asking for a clarification about the term '_as soon as possible_' that he used no matter how odd it sounded to him considering the fact that he was flying a helicopter instead of a car that he could easily speed up.

However, much to his relief Kyouya did not even bother to utter any single word and merely immersed in his own thoughts once again while his left hand clenching the hand phone that he held all along even tighter.

--

Kyouya could feel his hands were getting colder the more he thought about the reason that could make a person like Yoshio Ootori to suddenly cancel his important business trip and go to the island instead. The simplest reason might only be the fact that he wanted to celebrate the birthday of his first grandson. But of course knowing his father whom always lived in the world where emotion counted as the least important matter, Kyouya realized that it was the most unlikely reason that brought him there in the first place. For as long as he could remember, the only reason why his family members celebrated birthdays was solely to ensure that Yoshio could secure some great business deals out of each of them.

Yet up until that day, nobody knew the existence of Hajime Ootori. Kyouya had made it perfectly clear that he did not have any inclinations to change that fact anytime soon. He was, after all, Hajime's father and no matter how egotistical it might sound, he had the right to keep it that way for as long as he wanted.

It never crossed on Kyouya's mind that that his decision on sending Haruhi away to avoid Reina would mean that she had to face his father alone. At that moment, a pang of regret struck him hard as he failed to think any good reasons why his father wanted to meet Haruhi other than manipulating her like what he always did even with his own family.

And somehow he felt nothing but heartache as the thought of the very same girl with her amber eyes twinkling warmly at him; evading his mind at the same time when he was thinking about his son.

--

After living with Kyouya for quite awhile, Haruhi thought that nothing could amaze her anymore. But that day she only found out how wrong she could be.

Kyouya's vacation house looked more impressive than when she saw it from the outside. With every nook and cranny of the house filled with nothing but grandeur, Haruhi could not help but realized why Kyouya's life could never be as simple as hers. Somehow it made her understand how a person with a completely different class than her own could really exist in the world and to actually believe that she lived under the same roof with him was just beyond her imagination. And for some strange reasons, it made her felt something was amiss.

However, before she could think of any possible explanations why she should feel that way, her eyes caught beautiful scenery outside her bedroom and all the peculiar emotions she had a moment before left forgotten.

Although the room where she would spend the night was too extravagant for her taste as usual; however, much to her delight she also had a balcony facing the beach with an exquisite swing chair at one end.

Still with Hajime sleeping soundly in her arms, Haruhi sat on the chair and swung it lightly as she sang a lullaby quietly. She closed her eyes as she felt the refreshing sea breeze tickling her skin and tightened her hug at the sleeping figure on her lap.

Haruhi was fully contented with her surrounding that made her not even aware that three people had entered her room after one of them had been knocking her door to no response for quite awhile.

Thus, Haruhi opened her eyes with an obvious surprise drawn on her face as she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She was even more startled to notice that she was no longer alone in that used to be empty balcony.

There they were, all standing before her, Tachibana with a young woman in nurse uniform and an unfamiliar middle-aged man with a stern look and dressed in an expensive suit.

"Tachibana-San, what's…?"

However, Haruhi did not have any chance to finish her sentence as the guy interrupted her at that exact moment with his usual courtesy bow. Yet somehow Haruhi could not help but noticing that there was something different in how the guy presented himself before her although she could not pinpoint exactly what it was.

Nevertheless, Haruhi got her answer before long as the guy spoke in his customary well-refined manner, "Fujioka-Sama, I want you to meet the master of the house, Yoshio Ootori-Sama."

Upon hearing what Tachibana had just said, Haruhi finally understood the most probable cause of the distress and the silent whispers exchanged between Tachibana and the guy dressed in tuxedo she had witnessed earlier that day.

And among all the surprises she got from Kyouya Ootori so far, somehow Haruhi had a feeling that the sudden appearance of his father was definitely not one of them.

Still, the realization of this fact did not make Haruhi felt any better if not even worse. For one, Kyouya's father seemed like emanating an intimidating aura. Haruhi could only sadly guess that it was something that she should have expected from the father of the infamous Shadow King himself.

After staring at the small group standing before her with her big amber eyes opened wide for a second longer, Haruhi tried to get up from the swing chair only to be stopped by Yoshio as he gestured the young nurse to take Hajime from her lap.

As if the boy was the last defense that she had, Haruhi could not help but feeling reluctant to let him go. Nevertheless, she did not have any option when Yoshio said, "It would be my pleasure if you can accompany me for a cup of tea, Fujioka-San since I am sure that Kyouya will not be here to join us anytime soon."

And with those words, Haruhi knew that she no longer had any other options than to leave Hajime with the nurse while she followed Yoshio and Tachibana closely from behind. The house was even larger than Ootori Mansion. That fact alone had made Haruhi felt certain that leaving her mind wandering freely was definitely an unwise decision to do as she did not want to get lost inside the big house and embarass herself.

--

"I've heard a lot of stories about you, Fujioka-San. It's a pity that I only have the chance to meet you in person now," stated Yoshio in a matter-of-factly tone as he took the teacup from the guy dressed in tuxedo whom Haruhi now noticed as the butler of the house. He waited him to serve Haruhi's tea before gave him the signal to leave both of them alone in the extravagant living room.

Haruhi smiled and her big amber eyes sparkling marvellously as she heard what Kyouya's father just said.

"I never know that Kyouya-Senpai likes to discuss his friends with his father," answered Haruhi bluntly before she realized a tad too late that her sentence must have sounded quite impolite for anyone to hear let alone a person as important as Yoshio Ootori. It also never crossed on her mind at that time the probability that Yoshio might have heard things about her from other source than his own son.

At that moment when Haruhi was desperately in need to give Kyouya's father a better explanation for what she just said, somehow the memory of Tamaki and all his antiques came to her as she vividly recalled how close the relationship between the blonde guy and his father was. For some reasons unknown to her, the sudden thought of that guy made her felt warmer and all the nervousness towards Yoshio gone without any trace.

Thus before Yoshio had a chance to say anything, the very same thought made Haruhi added boldly, "Ah… It must be because Kyouya-Senpai is really close with you. I am really glad to know that he had somebody to talk to during all the periods when he wasn't with us."

Yoshio shot a scrutinizing look at the short-haired girl who sat in front of him before he finally asked, "Us?"

Haruhi bit her lower lips slightly in hesitation before she answered politely, "Ah… I mean the Ouran High Host Club where Kyouya and I joined last time when we were in high school. It has been quite awhile for us to hear from him. I am sure they will be very happy to see him again."

"You have an interesting point of view in seeing things, Fujioka-San. Now I know why even the heir of the Suoh Empire_ also_ seems to have such deep affection towards you," said Yoshio in business-like manner.

Haruhi titled her head a little as if thinking very hard about the words that Yoshio just said to her for a second longer before she gave up and said, "Eh? I am afraid I don't understand what you were trying to say, Sir…"

However, Yoshio did not elaborate his previous statement further. Instead, he chose to take a glance at one point behind Haruhi's head as he asked almost absentmindedly, "What do you think about this house, Fujioka-San?"

The sudden change of the topic caught Haruhi off guard and without even thinking twice she said, "Um… It is… _big_, I suppose."

Yet upon hearing her answer for the very first time, Yoshio's laughter could be heard inside the room. His onyx eyes veiled behind his glasses seemed twinkling and brighter than before. In between his laughs he spoke quietly, "I am sure the architect of this house would have had a good laugh if she could hear your answer."

Haruhi was left speechless with the sudden outburst from Yoshio before she realized that she was probably too blunt once again with her words.

"Ah… I am really sorry, Sir. I don't mean to…"

The apologizing words from Haruhi were left unfinished as Yoshio interrupted her with a tone that gave away a hint of sadness, "It was my late wife who designed this particular house. I guess one of my regrets in life is that I was not able to build it when she was still alive..."

Somehow upon hearing what Yoshio just said, the first impression that she got from him was slowly fading away. The more she looked at him the more he reminded her of Kyouya Ootori. It was more than a mere physical resemblance although she was not very sure what the exact similarities were.

But before Haruhi could think of anything to say, Yoshio continued speaking as if he did not need any responses from Haruhi in the first place, "I never know before that talking with you would bring back the memory of her."

Haruhi smiled sincerely at Yoshio whom still staring at nothing in particular behind her. As she replied the bright spark in her big amber eyes looked more evident than before, "I am sure that she would still feel very happy nonetheless to see that you have fulfilled her dream by building the house in the end, Sir. Besides, I always believe that it is the thought that matters the most."

Somehow it seemed that Haruhi's words had made Yoshio took another good look at her before a faint smile appeared on his face. Without taking his glance away from the girl, Yoshio spoke once again in a low voice that made Haruhi had to pay more attention than before in order to catch up with his words. It was as if he was merely speaking more to himself rather than for her to hear.

"Among all of my children, Kyouya had always been the closest with his mother. Probably it's simply because he's the youngest child in the family or it might only because the two of us is too much… _alike _for our own good just like what his late mother used to say."

There was a moment of silence as Haruhi did not know what to say or do besides staring confusedly at the middle-aged man whom she once had thought to have an intimidating aura around him. At that moment, she could not help but noticing that Kyouya had apparently inherited those pair of onyx eyes from him.

"I must say that I am quite surprise at first to hear that Kyouya hires you as Hajime's nanny but now I begin to comprehend the reasons behind his decision."

Haruhi gasped a little upon hearing the words from Yoshio. It never occurred to her how weird the idea of hiring her as Hajime's nanny might sound to Yoshio whom would be more than able to find a better candidate than her.

"I am really sorry, Sir. I have been trying to talk some senses into him to no avail," stated Haruhi ruefully; completely at lost for better excuses.

Yet as if trying to pick up her courage, Haruhi took a deep breath before adding her previous sentence in a more confident manner with, "However, since I have willingly taken the job; I will try my best to learn to be the perfect nanny for Hajime."

The same faint smile reappeared on Yoshio's face as though he noticed Haruhi's determination and took a second longer to rethink what the girl had just said to him. In the end he merely stated absentmindedly, "The perfect nanny… Those are really interesting words, Fujioka-San; I wonder what Kyouya might say if he ever heard you saying that."

There was a faint blush crept in on Haruhi's fair cheeks as she realized how corny her words might have sounded to anyone who heard them. She felt slightly relieved that Kyouya was not around to hear her saying things in a way that was so unlike her or he might end up giving her a very sarcastic reply.

As Haruhi was busily wondering whether or not Yoshio would divulge to his son about what she had just said to him, the middle-aged guy asked her in a more relaxed tone than before, "How well do you know Kyouya and Hajime, Fujioka-San?"

After biting her lower lips once again for a couple of seconds and her face looked a bit aghast; Haruhi hesitantly said, "I am not very sure I understand your question, Sir. I…"

Yoshio merely shook his head slightly to refrain Haruhi from continuing her sentence as if showing that he did not really want to hear any explanations from Haruhi.

Before Haruhi could grasp the real meaning behind the last question that Yoshio just asked her, the guy spoke to her again in the same manner as the last, "Did you also happen to know a girl by the name of Reina Nakashima? I understand that she's also a graduate from Ouran High School just like you and Kyouya."

Somehow upon hearing that particular name being spoken by Yoshio, Haruhi felt as if her heart just skipped a beat. She could not help but wondering why Yoshio mentioned Reina's name all of a sudden and recalling the scenery of her talking with Kyouya at the Seaworld only a moment before she was being forced to leave the place by Tachibana and the rest of the group.

"I…"

More to Haruhi's relief there was a knocking sound on the door for a moment before the butler reappeared once again from behind it. He walked purposely towards Yoshio and spoke to him in a low voice.

After giving a small nod to the butler, Yoshio stood up from his seat before he spoke gently to Haruhi, "It's nice to talk with you, Fujioka-San. I am sorry to have taken your precious time. You can enjoy the rest of your afternoon by taking a stroll around the house or the beach. They offer quite a beautiful view, I must say. Besides, I am quite sure that Kyouya will be here to join you shortly."

Haruhi was quite startled with the sudden ending of the conversation between her and Yoshio yet she followed his action and stood up from her seat nonetheless.

With a sincere smile apparent on her beautiful face, Haruhi replied, "I must say that I have an enjoyable afternoon as well, Sir."

As the butler opened the door for him, Yoshio turned back to look at Haruhi for the last time before he left the living room. And for the second time around that afternoon, there was a hint of sadness in Yoshio's voice as he finally said, "I hope you can truly fulfil your wish to be the perfect nanny for both of them, Fujioka-San."

--

"Where's my father, Tachibana?" asked Kyouya hurriedly as he stormed into the now empty living room. He did not even bother to apologize to the poor butler whom was only trying to greet him when he almost knocked him down at the front door a moment before.

Tachibana bowed politely before he answered, "I am afraid you just missed him, Ootori-Sama. He left for the airport only around half an hour ago to take the jet and fly to Beijing immediately this evening."

Kyouya's heart beat faster as he heard the words from Tachibana. It was as if confirming the bad intuitions he got when he first heard that his father came to the island without ever mentioning it to him beforehand. As absurd as what made his father decided to come to the island in the first place, Kyouya could not think of any good reasons to explain why his father decided to leave the house without even meeting him like what he had told him previously on the phone. For as long as he knew, Yoshio Ootori was not a man who would break his promises, no matter how small or insignificant they might be.

With his face went slightly paler than usual and his jaw hardened, Kyouya asked in a voice that was even colder than usual, "Where's Haruhi and Hajime now?"

"Hajime-Sama is still sleeping in his room while Fujioka-Sama went to the beach after finished talking with Ootori-Sama and has not returned since. I have offered to accompany her but she persistently refused it," explained Tachibana uncertainly. He noticed the darkened expression looming on Kyouya's face yet there was nothing much he could do to fix the current situation.

There was a hint of sarcasm in Kyouya's tone as he asked the guy standing before him, "So is it safe for me to assume that you don't know anything about the conversation between my father and Haruhi then, Tachibana?"

"I am truly sorry for my incompetency and lack of preparation, Ootori-Sama. I…" replied Tachibana after a painful silence filled the room for a second longer.

Probably noticing the sincerity and apologetic gestured from his most faithful assistant, Kyouya could only take a deep sigh and decided not to pursue the matter further.

There was only sadness appeared on his face when he finally spoke once again, "I know that there's nothing you could possibly do at that time, Tachibana. You can take your leave."

--

Even after Tachibana had left the room for awhile, Kyouya still stood and rooted on the same spot as if he was lost on what he would do next. There were so many different possibilities and scenarios on what his father and Haruhi might have discussed which in the end only made him feeling even more unsettled than before. And out of nowhere, the defeated feelings he had not felt for quite awhile returned back to him; bringing the same excruciating pain as the last.

Without knowing what he actually wanted to do next, Kyouya stormed out of the room in hurried and slightly careless steps towards the front door. Thus, for the second time that day Kyouya almost knocked down the person whom just happened to walk on the opposite direction as his.

And just like before, he did not bother to take a good look at the person whom he bumped into and merely continued his steps down towards the front staircase.

Yet when he barely reached the bottom of the staircase, a voice broke into his reverie which made him halted his steps almost instantly.

"Where are you going, Kyouya-Senpai?"

Kyouya turned around only to see Haruhi looked back at him with her hands carrying her sneakers leaving her feet barefooted. There was an obvious concern in the way she spoke and her face looked slightly worried as if she noticed the subtle difference in his behaviour at that moment.

"Are you looking for something, Senpai?" asked Haruhi once again with an obvious worry in her voice. She titled her head a little and looked at Kyouya with her big amber eyes sparkled strangely.

With a sweet smile etched on her beautiful face Haruhi walked down the staircase. As Haruhi passed by Kyouya; leaving him slightly behind, she added cheerfully, "Let me help you find it, Senpai."

But before she could take more than a few steps ahead, a strong hand jerked her right wrist and pulled her into a tight hug.

And there was only a muffled sound of a pair of sneakers fell onto the smooth terrace as Haruhi finally heard Kyouya spoke with his voice sounded hoarse and distant, "There's no need for you to do that. I have already found it."

* * *

_**1 year 2 days before…..**_

_**Ootori General Hospital – V.I.P Infant & Maternity Ward**_

"_Has she gone already?" asked Kyouya indifferently without even bothered to look at the guy who just arrived at his side and continued staring at the only baby cradle inside the room decorated in colourful patterns through the glass window before him. _

"_Yes, I am afraid so, Ootori-Sama. She took the earliest commercial flight this morning and refused to follow the jet arrangement you made for her," replied Tachibana straightforwardly after he bowed at his young master. _

"_With her type I would be surprised if it's otherwise, Tachibana," stated Kyouya disinterestedly at the same time when he touched the glass windows as if trying to have a better look at the small figure behind it. _

_There was a brief pause before Tachibana spoke once again, "Congratulation for your newborn son, Ootori-Sama. Have you decided the name for the baby yet?"_

_Kyouya knew that Tachibana was not the first person who asked him the question. So far, all the attending doctors, nurses as well as the only family member who always concerned about his wellbeing, Fuyumi, had already asked him with the very same question. Yet somehow hearing it from Tachibana gave an unexplainable feeling to Kyouya. It was like being asked by a close friend who truly cared with his answer. It gave him the closest sensation of being asked by his best friends that he once had. _

_Probably that was the main reason why he finally withdrew his sight from the baby whom still sleeping soundly in the marvellous-looking cradle and took a good look at his loyal assistant instead. _

_And for the very first time since the longest period ever; a sincere smile could be seen on his flawless face by the time Kyouya finally gave his answer, "I will name him Hajime as he marks a new beginning for me." _

--

_**5 months 29 days earlier…**_

_**Ootori Tokyo Main Headquarter Building – Yoshio Ootori's Office Lounge**_

_It was a common knowledge for all the employees at the Ootori Main Headquarter to know that the office of Yoshio Ootori was out of reach for most of them. It was also perfectly understandable that there were only a very limited number of people could enter that particular office, in which even the most senior managers had to have a prescheduled appointment booked weeks beforehand or when Yoshio Ootori himself wanted to have urgent meetings with them. What none of them ever knew was the fact that even for his immediate family members, the very same rules also applied. _

_Inside the office lounge at that particular moment, Kyouya Ootori; the third son of Yoshio Ootori, sat all by himself. _

_--_

_**Ootori Tokyo Main Headquarter Building – Yoshio Ootori's Office **_

_When Kyouya first received the phone call from one of Yoshio's personal assistants the day before, giving the news that his father wanted to see him on the following day, he knew the only probable cause of the sudden meeting. Somehow his father had already found out about the only person in his life he wished his father would never get a chance to know. Nakashima Reina. _

_So far being the son of Yoshio Ootori, he had grown to know that his father was not an emotional man. He was cold, distant and always displayed no visible trace of human emotions as if the detachment was the price that he needed to pay for his success. Yet upon noticing his father's grim expression, Kyouya knew that his guess could not be that far from the truth._

_At one point of his life, Kyouya once ever wished that his father could show his emotions as free as other people could. Yet somehow he could not feel any worse than that day when he saw for the very first time Yoshio Ootori was finally capable of displaying some emotions before him. _

_When Yoshio finally opened his mouth, his tone was merciless and without any trace of hesitation; as if he merely read out his words based on some invisible scripts laid before him, "I've heard some interesting rumours about you and Yutaka Nakashima's daughter, Kyouya. I've been waiting for some proper explanations from you ever since the very first day I've got the news only to add my disappointments towards you even further. Is there any _particular_ reason on why you seem to have decided not to inform me about this matter _at all_?"_

_After some time had passed by without Kyouya uttering any single explanations, Yoshio stood up and slammed his desk impatiently. Yet his tone was oddly calm when he spoke once again, "You know that you shall be responsible for all the damages done so far, Kyouya. I have requested for a meeting with Yutaka and his wife on your behalf tomorrow evening to discuss about your engagement with their daughter. I expect you to come on time."_

"No_," answered Kyouya brusquely _

_There was a painful silence before Yoshio said, "What did you just say, Kyouya?"_

"_I just said '_No_', Father. I will be responsible for my actions but I will _not_ follow any of your arrangements on this matter," stated Kyouya in a firm tone. There was a strange gleam in his onyx eyes as he stared back at his father without even showing any slightest fear. _

_Yoshio pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose with his face somehow impassive. Yet there was a hint of anger in his voice as he opened his mouth again only to say,_ _"You do understand that Nakashima family holds strong position in the hotel and tourism industry in this country, don't you, Kyouya? Or how we might lose the chances of securing our position when our plan to enter the market really takes place?"_

_For the second time around, Kyouya never gave his answers towards any of Yoshio's question and merely staring in his usual aloofness manner at the expensive vase on his father's desk. _

_There was a deep frown etched on Yoshio's face as he turned his back on Kyouya. His voice was cold and distant by the time he spoke in a matter-of-factly tone, "I always thought of you as the most rational among your brothers, but it seems that I am wrong after all."_

_At that exact time, the uncharacteristic gleam reappeared again in Kyouya's onyx eyes as he finally heard the cold words from Yoshio explaining the only reason for their meeting that day, "I only want you to know that unless you meet Yutaka's family tomorrow then you should be able to perform a miracle over this matter because without either of them you can simply forget the idea of you becoming my heir, Kyouya."_

_--_

_**2 days later…..**_

_**Ootori Mansion - Kyouya Ootori's Study Room**_

"_Why didn't you come yesterday, Ootori-Kun? Did you know that you have humiliated me so much by letting my parents waiting for you the whole evening?" _

_Kyouya merely stared at Reina whom just stormed into his quiet study room from behind the book he just used to cover his face without showing any kinds of interests. There was no signs of surprised visible from Kyouya. It was as though he had expected the girl to react that way in the first place. Or if it was even possible, _made_ her react that way._

"_Didn't you know that I could easily tell anyone about us? Or do you really want to know whether or not I really have the courage to do so?" asked the girl in even angrier tone than before._

_When Kyouya did not show any inclinations that he would give her any answers, she turned around and walked hastily towards the door. _

_Yet her steps came to a halt as she heard Kyouya spoke, "Move in with me."_

_Upon hearing Kyouya's words, Reina turned to look at him almost instantly. _

_Although the trace of anger had not fully left Reina's beautiful face, her tone was completely different than the one she used only a moment before when she said, "Why do you change your mind, Ootori-Kun? Don't tell me that you're afraid of what I've just said?"_

"_Don't let my words mislead you, _Woman_. I will _never_ change my mind. I am asking you to move in with me _only_ for the baby's sake. I will be more than happy to withdraw my offer if you deem it unfit to your preference," replied Kyouya coldly as he buried his face under his book once again. _

"_Hey, why do you have to act that impatient towards me? I never said that I am not interested with what you've just said, Ootori-Kun. Tell me when you want me to move in with you and I will," answered Reina in a hurry; as if afraid that Kyouya might change his mind. Her usual sweet smile appeared on her face as she stared at him whom still sat lazily with his feet laid on top of the desk in front of him just like before she barged into his study room. _

_Kyouya let out a small sigh escaped from his lips as he grabbed the book from on top of his face before he stated indifferently, "You can live with me starting this afternoon for all I care. Just bear in mind that I will _never_ tolerate you prying on my privacy. We're living together, _strictly_, for the sake of the baby."_

"_I will see you again this evening with my luggage then, Ootori-Kun," replied Reina in her cheery voice as she grabbed the door handle and went out without further ado. _

_Yet without Reina ever aware of, as soon as she closed the door, something very much like repugnance and determination flickered for a second on Kyouya's handsome face. _

_--_

_**5 months 6 days later….**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Study Room **_

"_Are you all right, Ootori-Sama?" asked Tachibana as he barged into the room soon after he heard a crashing sound from inside the room. He looked completely aghast upon noticing a thick red substance dripping from Kyouya's forehead; leaving an obvious red stains on his used to be flawless white shirt. And to add his bewilderment, standing in front of his young master was Reina Nakashima with newspaper in her left hand and a visible trace of tears on her beautiful face. _

"_How could you do this to me? Am I asking too much by thinking that we would finally have a happy family together when in the end you're the one who forced my parents to their deaths?" yelled Reina hysterically with her breaths sounded even heavier than before. _

"_I am afraid I don't understand what you're talking about, Nakashima-San. What I do know is the fact that you should learn how to control your emotion since it will only be a couple of days away before your due date," answered Kyouya calmly. He had completely ignored the blood that was dripping down from his forehead onto his shirt as well as the pastel-coloured carpet beneath him. Somehow upon saying those words Kyouya's eyes flickered at Reina's big belly and a trace of sadness and something very much like regret emerged on his flawless face. _

"YOU!_" shouted Reina before she grabbed her stomach and bit her lower lips hard as if trying to suppress the sudden pain she felt. _

_For a moment, Kyouya seemed wanting to reach her shoulder but decided not to in the end and merely stared blankly at the floor. When his sight stumbled upon Reina's legs, he roared impatiently, "Call the ambulance, Tachibana; I think her water just broke!" _

_At that time, Kyouya could not help but to notice how pale Reina's face was. Yet when he tried to help her to sit at the settee nearby, she harshly rejected him. In the end he merely stood still like a statue next to her and watched the girl struggling to sit down all by herself before she could manage to rest on the couch. _

_Reina was still shaking slightly as tears streamed down on her face to her now already dampened dress. Her voice was barely a whisper when she stared at Kyouya who still looked at her with his flawless face unreadable, "I can't believe how stupid I am to really feel very happy every time I hear you calling my name and not just a mere '_Woman_' like what you always did whenever you're angry with me, Ootori-Kun. Even until now…" _

_And with that, Reina closed her eyes. _

_--_

_**40 minutes later…..**_

_**Ootori General Hospital – V.I.P Infant & Maternity Antechamber **_

_There were times when he was younger, Kyouya often thought how his life would be if he was not born as an Ootori. Whether or not would he be happier or whether or not would he be a different person than who he was. _

_However, that kind of thought had been buried deeply inside his mind and he seemed forgotten to ever think that way ever since the day he met Tamaki Suoh; learning from him that he could be happy as himself, as an Ootori. _

_It was only at that time, for once, Kyouya ever thought that probably he could have both: the happiness he longed for and to remain as an Ootori._

_But as he sat in the empty lounge waiting for Reina to deliver the baby; ignoring the pain from his bleeding forehead as he had previously refused to be treated and even more torturing pang piercing his heart, Kyouya knew that it was too much to ask. Happiness was, after all, the sacrifice he needed to make for his freedom... and for being an Ootori. _

_He glanced at the newspaper he had unconsciously been carrying all the way to the hospital without him even aware when he had taken it from Reina's hand in the first place. _

_Written in bold capital letters the heading of the main article in the newspaper that day: _

_OOTORI EMPIRE SUCCESSFULLY ACQUIRED NAKASHIMA CORP, GAINING THE STRONGEST FOOTHOLD IN THE GLOBAL LEISURE-BASED INDUSTRY _

-- to be continued --

**A/N:** Finally an update from me after quite awhile. I am truly sorry for the delay in updating any of my stories. My current job has consumed a lot of my time while most of my spare time I've spent it to either catch up with the most recent Korean dramas or playing games with my new laptop. Hahaha… I know that it's probably the lamest excuse you've ever heard. Just don't forget to leave your comments about this story; I love to hear what you think of the story so far.

**Million thanks to:** **Ryan**, **Yuki Gen**, **dealuvsanime**, **Lewnuhhkau**, **TwilightRomance**, **Lakoma**, **Kodaku**, **Dark Angel of Pain and Chaos**, **Blackblaze**, **CyanideTearsx3**, **AnaChi-Chan**, **The Reviewer**, **wiwionly**, **dawn**, **Xan**, **SnowCharms**, **f-zelda**, **waizzz**, **A little Piece of Sanity**, **SecretLittleWhiteLie**, **PA0PU**, **monedameow**, **Topaztok**, **angelsammi**, **Kichou**, **DevilHeart13**, **Star Garden**, **MischievousPuck**, **innocent school girl**, **gigi0203**, **ichinanahachi**, **Emosexual-joygasm**, **glazedeyes**, **ColourfulKyouya-SenpaiMaybeNot** and the rest of you who took the time to wait for me to update this chapter.


	11. Ten

Disclaimer: There was no possibility of me owning Ouran. The plot of this story on the other hand, is absolutely mine.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

--_**Ten**_--

It never occurred to Haruhi that she could actually feel something out of ordinary tingling warmly inside her from a mere hug. Yes, it was true that the hug came from a guy. A very handsome one, some people might even say. And as a girl, she was _supposed_ to feel something out of that kind of hug in the first place. The only problem for her was; she _never_ felt anything from being hugged by the opposite sex no matter whether they happened to be handsome or not. She did not particularly hate it nor had any specific reason to enjoy it either.

Until that day.

Ever since she joined the host club, hug had unwillingly become one part of her daily rituals; almost as normal as eating and drinking were for human being.

Tamaki always hugged her every day without fail or any particular reasons to do so to begin with no matter whether she would appreciate it or not.

The twins frequently hugged her, most likely seeing the fact that they always considered her as their toy, completely disregarded her feelings on being taken as their toy in the first place.

Honey with his usual cutesy sometimes also had a whim to hug her as though he wanted to hug a sister that he never had.

And on some rare occasions when the host club members particularly Tamaki and the twins finally hit her nerve, Mori would help her by hugging and lifting her up literally from their presence every time she asked for his help.

As a matter of fact, as far as she could remember she had been hugged by most of the host club members probably with the exception of Kyouya Ootori. And as a girl who had such low threshold in gender awareness like what she had confessed to Tamaki on the day he found out her true gender, it never crossed on her mind, even for once, that being hugged by Kyouya would be any different for her.

Yet something was definitely _wrong_ with her body especially the parts where her skin came in contact with Kyouya's. Was it simply because it was the second time around she was being hugged by that guy within the same week? Or was it because she knew it somehow that Kyouya was not a Casanova, whom like Tamaki, had a knack of exhibiting such gesture in the first place?

For all she knew, she felt her face slightly burning and her heart inexplicably beating so fast she thought she might get a heart attack as soon as her bare skin came in contact with the shadow king's.

Therefore, no matter how insensitive she was or how androgynous she might be; for the first time in her life Haruhi Fujioka realized that she was, apparently, _not_ immune to all kinds of hugs.

--

After what it seemed like forever, the first instinct that came to Haruhi was to push Kyouya away or at least try to say something in order to fill the suffocating silence that hung in the air soon after she heard Kyouya's last sentence. Yet it seemed that her brain had stopped working properly as Kyouya's words seemed to ring again and again to her somewhat blank mind.

'_There's no need for you to do that. I have already found it.' _

Somehow she could not help but feeling slightly curious with what the guy had just said. Was it her the one that he meant in his words? If it was her, then why he had to look for her? Surely he still remembered that she was supposed to be in the island; where else she could be anyway since it was _his _decision in the first place to take her and Hajime there.

However before Haruhi could decide what she should do or say next, almost harshly Kyouya let go his embrace just as sudden as the hug itself. It was as though he only realized it now what he just did a moment before. Yet the tingling feeling that she felt from his embrace still lingered inside her body not to mention prickling her bare skin with some unfamiliar sensations.

"_Sorry_…" muttered Kyouya in a low and still slightly hoarse voice. He quickly put his hands back down in the pockets of his jeans as if restraining himself from his own impulse.

For a second Haruhi looked a little bit taken aback with the sudden change from Kyouya's attitude. She was not sure what she expected Kyouya to say in the first place. However she was pretty much certain that an apologizing word was _not_ the one she wanted to hear from him at the moment.

Much to her own surprise, Haruhi could hear her own voice asking bluntly to Kyouya, whom apparently had found the rosebush nearby the patio where they stood at that moment to be particularly interesting.

"What are you apologizing for, Sempai?"

Seemingly, the blatant words from Haruhi had given Kyouya a good enough reason to finally look at the pair of amber eyes that still gazing at him with unhidden curiosity.

Without breaking their eye contacts, Kyouya adjusted his glasses briefly before he spoke rather disinterestedly, "No specific reason, Haruhi. Let's just say that I was rather in the mood to act _purely_ based on my whim. Weren't you the one that suggested to me before to once in awhile _following_ what my instinct was telling me to do?"

Yet it caught Kyouya completely off guard and made him cursing inwardly for his stupid miscalculation when Haruhi apparently noticed a loophole in his sentence that he had accidentally missed out.

"Then does it mean that the reason _why_ you suddenly hugged me was because your instinct _told_ you so, Kyouya-Sempai?"

Without Haruhi ever aware, for a flicker second a strange gleam appeared on Kyouya's onyx eyes before his smooth voice was heard once again in the thick silence of the empty patio, "Do you _really_ want to know the answer, Haruhi?"

After biting her lower lips as if contemplating about the answer she wanted to give to the ominous figure that was still standing very close to her, Haruhi inhaled her breath deeply.

Yet there was no hesitation in her voice as she looked straight into Kyouya's onyx eyes before she answered, "Yes, I _do_ want to know the answer, Kyouya-Sempai."

--

Kyouya simply loathed mingling with others meaninglessly. He found that most people around him were either too predictable or unchallenging for his taste. Therefore he always felt that spending his valuable time to give even a mere second thought over such people as something absolutely uncalled for.

Nevertheless, he had to admit that there were some exceptions in which he would trouble himself to learn one or two things about others no matter how bothersome most of the times it was for him. Of course a big part of it was caused by the benefits that he could secure from the information that he collected from them. But as for the rest of it, he was not even sure that there were any logical reasons behind why he had to feel strong attractions in getting to know more about _certain_ people.

So far, Kyouya noticed that there were only very few people had caught his interests inexplicably. They were his host club best friends. It was almost as though he found himself drawn to them for no apparent reasons. Yet the one thing that he always hated the most was to act based on _unexplainable_ impulses since he knew that it would only give him nothing more than disappointing _mediocre_ results.

Therefore he felt the need to set his record straight. Kyouya Ootori was never a man of instinct. _Period_.

Still, he simply put his mind at ease at that time by thinking that it was surely because he had unconsciously considered their influential family backgrounds in his mind beforehand, in which there was nothing to lose and everything to gain for him by befriending with them. That must be the reason and nothing else. And all along that excuse seemed to work perfectly fine for him.

Until Haruhi Fujioka came into the picture.

For the very first time in his life, Kyouya failed to give himself even the lamest explanations about the merits he could possibly gain by getting himself acquainted with the girl who could pass up as a guy much to successful due to her lack of interests in taking care of her feminine side.

Her presence awakened the unfamiliar side of him that probably merits were not the only things he sought for in his life or the sole reason why he felt strangely elated in knowing more about a person from no less than a commoner background like her.

For him, Haruhi was simplistic but intriguing at the same time. Just like a great rare book; it was easy for him to flip to the last page to know the ending but he kept on restraining himself from doing so for he was afraid to miss the good parts in between the pages. And most of all, she had a unique way of thinking about almost everything and everyone which made her special even for an unapproachable guy like him.

Yet as much as he liked the different perspective she had, he could not help but feeling a little annoyed for the unpredictable responses that she gave him most of the times.

Just like the one he had on hand at the moment, for example.

--

Contrary with the detached aura etched visibly in his expression at the moment, Kyouya felt at lost for words and his mind was strangely devoid from any crafty ideas like it usually did in any other day. There were so many, in fact too many things that he wanted to tell Haruhi yet it contained deep agony in each of them. Therefore, he could not help but quietly anguishing the probability that it was not the right time to confess his feelings.

Yet his instinct told him somehow that he might never have any other opportunities but the one he had at the moment considering how insensitive and oblivious that girl was most of the times. However upon the thought of his former belief about instincts and their unreliability, Kyouya could not help but muttering some incoherent words _bitterly_; thoroughly forgotten that the girl in question was also present.

"What did you just say, Kyouya-Sempai?"

The words from Haruhi managed to pull Kyouya back from his stupor. He cleared his throat unnecessarily and took a brief moment to glance at the pair of amber eyes that were still staring at him with the same interest before saying, "Do you want to accompany me to the beach, Haruhi? It's been quite awhile since I came here and I can't help but wondering whether the scenery is still the same like the last time I saw it."

"But…"

Before Haruhi could say more than that, Kyouya interjected quickly as he leaned forward and whispered to her ear in a mocking tone, "Besides, I have _not_ forgotten that I still owe you my answer, Haruhi."

He took Haruhi's forgotten sneakers that laid motionlessly on the smooth pavement in a swift movement and gave the dumbfounded Haruhi his trademark smirk before he kneeled down to put them on her bare feet.

As soon as he fastened the shoelaces into neat knots, Kyouya stood up and reached her hand before he intertwined his fingers with hers just like what he did at Seaworld earlier that day as though it was a habit that he recently grew fond of.

At that point, Kyouya had finally come to a decision that the time had finally come when he would tell Haruhi about his true feelings. He knew that, as always, she might not give him the responses that he had been expecting to hear. The only difference was, this time he had _no_ intention of losing.

--

The sun almost set by the time Kyouya and Haruhi reached the narrow pathway leading to the beach. The tall lampposts surrounded the quiet beach had been lit and gave a perfect posh ambiance to the Ootori's vacation house as its sheer white colour looked more beautiful to be in such contrast with the crimson sky.

Without hesitation, as though he was already planning to bring Haruhi there from the very beginning, Kyouya guided her to a beautiful gazebo that had a perfect view of the beach with an expensive-looking teak bench and a small circular wooden table in front of it. And soon after giving Haruhi's hand a gentle squeeze, Kyouya let it go and gestured her to take a seat next to him.

Several minutes went by in silence as neither of them began any kinds of conversations. From the corner of his eyes Kyouya still could see Haruhi's gorgeous face staring absentmindedly at the beach, as though she was just as troubled as him at the moment.

Without taking another glance at the girl sitting next to him, Kyouya spoke in a low voice, "I've been informed that you happened to meet my father, Haruhi. How did it go? Did he mention anything… um… _interesting_?"

Haruhi looked at Kyouya with her big amber eyes twinkling magnificently against the dusky sky before she replied vaguely, "It's only a brief conversation, Senpai. But I must say that he's _not_ like what I imagine him to be."

For a fracture second, Kyouya seemed alarmed. His onyx eyes seemed went darker by a notch as he said, "You don't have to take what he told you too seriously, Haruhi. My father could be… ehm… how should I put it? _cold_ and _presumptuous_ at times. However, I can assure you that it has _nothing_ to do with you. It's just who he is, I suppose."

Upon noticing how serious Kyouya was when he spoke about Yoshio, Haruhi chuckled a little. She gave Kyouya an apologetic look by the time she noticed the impatience and annoyance drawn on his flawless face before answered him in a light tone, "It's _absolutely_ nothing like what you said at all, Senpai. Your father is a very nice guy and you should learn not to speak about him that way. People might get the wrong impression that you're merely talking about some random guy judging from the way you're mentioning the things about him."

The irritation that fell upon Kyouya's handsome face was gone thoroughly as soon as he heard Haruhi's explanation and replaced by a subtle surprise. His voice was oddly calm by the time he responded, "Can you enlighten me on this matter, Haruhi? I think I may have _misinterpreted_ your sentence."

Haruhi was still smiling by the time she realized the changes in Kyouya's expression as though she found Kyouya's words to be particularly amusing; disregarding completely the darker mood that seemed to emanate from the infamous shadow king.

Chuckling softly, Haruhi replied in her usual bluntness, "Oh, I think you heard me just fine, Senpai. In fact I have found out that the two of you are very much _alike_ in a way. Furthermore, since I do think that your father has been treating me just the same way like you always treat me or even better, I dare say. Thus, there is no need of you to overwork yourself by thinking over some _inexistent_ worries."

The corner of Kyouya's mouth twitched a little upon listening to Haruhi's comparison between him and Yoshio. So far there was only one person in the world had daringly pointed out the uncanny similarities between him and his father. It was Naoko Ootori, his late mother.

After the day Naoko passed away, nobody ever mentioned him about that fact anymore, as if the subject about his mother was somehow forbidden to be spoken out loud even by her own family members. Yet hearing Haruhi mentioned the things that his mother used to say about him had brought the memory of his mother's sweet smile and how he constantly missed her presence even until that day. Upon that thought, he could not help but feeling a painful pang and guilt burning in his chest as he remember the absence of a mother in his own son's life and how Hajime would think of him when he was old enough to start asking about his mother.

Kyouya grunted impassively as the corner of his eyes glinting with displeasure, "Speaking about my father, I…"

Haruhi seemed undisturbed with the lack of enthusiasms from Kyouya in talking about his father and interjected him warmly, "Actually he's the one who points out the fact that both of you are the same kind of people, Senpai. Somehow I could not agree more with him. Believe me, you're more alike with your father than you could _imagine_."

When Kyouya did not respond to what she just said, Haruhi continued in a much softer tone than the one she used earlier, "I don't know whether I should say it or not, Senpai. But whatever happens between you and your father, I think it must be _only_ a big misunderstanding. All I can see is that he really cares about you and Hajime a lot and I am pretty much sure of it."

Kyouya stood up in an abrupt manner upon listening to what Haruhi just said. He raised his voice so suddenly that almost made Haruhi jumped in surprise and anger was already illustrated in all over Kyouya flawless figure by the time he said, "Who are you anyway to daringly speak about me or my father as if you know _anything_ about us? He wasn't all that innocent like what you think he is! Where was he when his wife was dying? Where was he when his kids needed him the most? Buried himself in his work, and that was the only thing important enough apparently for him to get his _undivided_ attention all along. So please don't _ever_ talk about things you know absolutely nothing of, Haruhi."

For a moment, Haruhi looked hurt by the harsh words from Kyouya. Yet when she stared back at the menacing figure standing before her, she spoke impatiently in the same angered manner like him, "Have you _ever_ mentioned what you just said to me to your father? Have you even tried to at least be honest with yourself about how you _actually_ think of him? Or do you expect your father to be some sort of a mind-reader and understand you without you need to say the things you want the most from him? As far as an _outsider_ like me can see it, I don't think _neither_ you _nor_ your father have realized how both of you have missed a lot of things in each other's life only because of one or two simple misunderstandings all this while. You can hate me for all I care after today but I don't think I can keep myself quiet about how childish your act seems to me now. And just to let you know, the day has long gone when you can threaten me with my _debts_ or other _unimportant_ stuff, Kyouya Ootori."

Kyouya could not hide his surprise by the sudden outburst from Haruhi. It was the first time ever for him to encounter such a person who was obviously braved enough to talk back at him in the same threatening tone that he always used whenever he lost his temper. Yet to hear it from an emotionless person like Haruhi, if he had to be honest with himself, was oddly quite… _enjoyable_. It was as though he was important enough for her to make her lost her patience and reprimanded him in the harshest tone she could pull off; disregarded completely about how his reactions would be upon listening to her unsympathetic comments like that.

And somehow the absurdity of the current situation made Kyouya suddenly burst into laughter. He laughed so hard, in fact that in the end made the girl sitting in front of her could not help but laughing together with him.

In between his laughs, Kyouya spoke in a tone so unlike the one that he used a moment earlier as his onyx eyes piercing the figure sitting before him, "_I love you_, Haruhi Fujioka."

--

Haruhi's laughs still had not got the chance to die down when she listened to what Kyouya just said only a moment before. At first she thought that it must be a horrible idea of a joke from the shadow king, probably as a new form of revenge from him for her guts in talking back at him about his relationship with his father.

From what she knew back then, Kyouya Ootori was not exactly the type of guy who would_ ever_ let her blunt remarks passed by without any kinds of punishments such as a large sum amount of money being added up in her debt, for example.

Yet she had already smartly announced it in front of the guy himself that she was _no_ longer felt threatened by her debts anymore. Thus, it probably triggered his unexplainable crack that led to his sudden decision in applying some sick psychological tactics or so at her. Like confessing his love for her out of the blue, for instance.

Kyouya Ootori she knew all along would never say those kinds of words in the first place, at least not to her. She was a commoner who surely would never help contributing any kinds of merits whatsoever to his benefits. And she always knew that Kyouya Ootori was a person who would adjust his reactions based on how much merits he would get from them. At any rate, that was what she heard from him in person out loud when a silly incident made them met accidentally in a commoner mall on one hot summer day back then when they were still in Ouran.

But once her big amber eyes met the pair of dark onyx eyes that was still gazing intently at her for a couple of seconds longer, somehow she had an odd feeling that probably, even it was nearly impossible… there was a _crazy_ possibility that the guy was not joking.

That he was _indeed _in love with her.

--

For the last several minutes Haruhi had tried to say something merely for the sake of filling up the deafening silence that hung in the air with anything at all or at least to divert Kyouya's attention to anything other than her. Yet so far there was no coherent words seemed like coming out from her mouth. It was as though the sharp gaze from the guy had somehow caused her brain to _stop_ functioning properly and made her unable to think of anything to say.

Noticing the astounded look in Haruhi's somewhat paler face, Kyouya spoke in a voice that was much gentler than before, "Did you hear what I just said to you _correctly_, Haruhi? Because judging from your current expression, you look as if you just met a ghost. Still, I am sure that my _real _intention in breaking out the news was _far_ from trying to scare you out of your wits like this."

Before Haruhi managed to say anything to retort to the sarcastic remark she just got from Kyouya on the absence of her reply to his previous statement, the tall guy let out a sarcastic snort soon after he glared at her for a second longer; as though he had already found his answer without the need of her uttering any replies.

Only less than a moment later he added with annoyance drawn vividly on his expression, "And just to make things clear, I am _neither_ joking _nor _trying to take my revenge on you by saying '_I love you'_ only because you have somehow poked your nose _uninvited_ into my personal life, Haruhi. To tell the truth, it really doesn't matter for me how many more times I should repeat the words to you as long as it can make you understand how _serious_ I am with what I've said."

"But how can it be possible? I mean when? Why? To be honest with you, I can't seem to find the merits you can possibly gain for falling in love with me, Senpai," stated Haruhi with her voice sounded slightly shaken.

Kyouya sighed. He ran his fingers through his raven hair to cover up his frustration and a twinge of disappointment that seeped into his mind before he replied quietly, "It seems to me that now is not the right moment for you to know anything _more_ than what I've told you. Especially after considering the fact that you find my feelings for you to be particularly… uh… _questionable_. However, you must know that my feelings for you have nothing to do with the merits whatsoever that I might secure from you. For your information, I am _not_ yet stooping _that _low, Haruhi."

Haruhi felt her cheeks growing warmer and slightly shocked to find Kyouya turned his back on her as he spoke once again in a voice that was void from any kinds of emotion, "We should go back now, Haruhi. Hajime might have awakened by now."

Upon noticing Kyouya's subtle displeasure, Haruhi stood up quickly, looking a little bit abashed as she grabbed the hem of his shirt before muttered softly, "I'm sorry to say such insensitive words to you, Senpai. It's just that this is the first time _eve_r for me to hear a person said that he loves me. Honestly, I really don't know what I should say or do in this kind of situation."

Haruhi let out a nervous laugh which only made Kyouya felt more aggravated than ever. And before he knew what he was going to do next, Kyouya turned around to face Haruhi's startled figure and snapped angrily, "Don't tell me that this is _really_ the first time you ever heard a guy confessed his love for you, Haruhi. What about Arai, Kasanoda or the guys in your middle school? From what I've heard you're already quite _famous_ back then. Didn't they tell you their feelings toward you?"

It was quite difficult for Kyouya to keep his jealousy to a minimum level or his logic intact every time he had to discuss about other guys with Haruhi, especially when it strongly related with her love life.

Yet apparently, as always, Haruhi noticed absolutely nothing about his somewhat paler face or the reason why he seemed angry at her and more intimidating than ever. She merely shook her head a little in an evident disbelief and retorted frustratingly, "I never heard any of them _mentioning_ to me that they loved me before, Kyouya-Senpai. You made it sound like I am a player like Tamaki-Senpai somehow by indicating that I might have some people randomly falling in love with me all this while. I am pretty sure that it's _nothing_ like what you've said at all."

Kyouya snorted impatiently, partly because he could not believe how Haruhi could be utterly dense at times like this and other part was because of the mention of his blonde best friend's name. He had clearly avoided speaking out his name when he blurted out all the guys he knew who have a crush with Haruhi yet only to hear that particular name being mentioned so lightly by her.

Somehow he could not help himself but feeling resentful whenever Haruhi mentioned Tamaki's name; probably because it only reminded him of his inferiority and insecurity over his feelings for her.

Realizing that Haruhi was still holding the corner of his shirt idly, Kyouya let out an inaudible sigh yet he could not help but feeling slightly better than before. With his back facing her once again, a hint of a sad smile lingered in Kyouya's handsome face for a flicker second as he said, "Well, now I guess you finally _know_ the answer _why_ I hugged you earlier, Haruhi."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Kyouya walked away from that place without bothered to ask Haruhi whether or not she wanted to join him; leaving the girl stood all alone in that exquisite gazebo; busily pondering over what he just confessed to her.

Although Haruhi still could hear the faint echo of the waves from the beach, at the moment it sounded like it came from a different entity for her at the moment. For all she knew, her life had somehow reached to another level of complexity starting from that day onwards; the day she heard a guy admitted straightforwardly that he loved her. And he was not just a stranger to her.

Kyouya Ootori, _apparently_, was falling for her.

Upon that thought, Haruhi's beautiful face broke into a smile.

* * *

_**11 years 9 months 4 days before…**_

_**Ootori Mansion – North Wing Garden**_

"_Why are you hiding here, Kyou-Kun? More importantly, do you realize that it's not very polite of you not to greet all your guests personally especially when all of them are coming here to celebrate your birthday?" _

_Kyouya turned his head around to see a stunningly beautiful woman whom just spoke to him from behind the exquisite gazebo where he sat at the moment with a slight scowl visible on his face. The place had a clear view of a marvellous looking pond surrounded by white winter snow. Yet somehow it was pretty obvious for the woman to notice that he was not exactly sitting in there to admire the scenery. He returned back his gaze to nothing in particular before him once again without uttering any words to the woman._

_Still, the woman seemed did not feel troubled at all by the lack of hospitality from Kyouya. On the contrary, there was a kind smile in her pale face as though she knew what was going on in the little kid's mind. She merely sat quietly beside Kyouya and before long he blurted out, "I don't think there will be much difference whether I am there or not, Mother. Besides, it's not like I have _anyone_ I want to see in there anyway." _

_Naoko chuckled softly upon listening to what her youngest son just said and caressed his jet-black hair fondly. There was a hint of amusement in her voice as she replied gently, "Your father just arrived awhile ago and I am sure he's looking for you by now, Kyou-Kun." _

"_That's _only_ because he wants to introduce me to all his business partners and _nothing_ else. I don't want to greet any of them; let Akito Onii-chan, Fuyumi Onee-Chan and Yojiri Onii-chan do that," stated Kyouya bitterly. His onyx eyes were veiled behind his bangs yet through the corner of Naoko's brown eyes she still could see her son's lips trembled a little once he finished his sentence. _

_Naoko noticed how the little figure beside her always tried to act much older than his age most of the times. Yet at time like this she could not help but noticing that he was just like any other kids in his age. _

_The warm smile never left her face when she put her palms against the cold cheeks of her son before she spoke softly, "Why don't _you_ tell your father about how you _actually_ feel, Kyou-Kun? Let me tell you a secret; if I were you, by now I would be yelling and screaming at him or even kicking him if necessary for forcing me doing things I would rather not do than spending my seventh birthday alone in here; feeling all cold and hungry like this. That is what I would consider to myself as an _unworthy_ and pretty much _stupid _action." _

_Naoko ended her sentence with a soft giggle as she squeeze her son's cheeks gently, which only made them slightly reddish in the end. _

_However at that exact moment, a gush of afternoon wind blew all of a sudden at the direction of the gazebo; sending the coldness of the winter to the parts of Kyouya's body that were not covered by clothes. Probably it was because of that very same wind that made Naoko suddenly coughed terribly. Her beautiful face was no longer smiling as she frowned deeply and pressed her palm against her chest as though she was in utter pain. _

_Kyouya reached his mother fragile figure and touched her long brunette hair before running his small fingers on his mother's back with an obvious concern visible in his onyx eyes. _

"_Mother, are you still unwell? Should I call Takagi-Sensei to give you a check up?"_

_Naoko shook her head a little and held Kyouya's outstretched hand in her palms before she spoke cheerfully, "You can see it now that I am absolutely fine, Kyou-Kun. So don't give me that kind of scary frown or no girls will ever like you if they ever see your frightening look like this."_

"But_…"_

_Kyouya did not have the chance to finish what he wanted to say as Naoko suddenly stood up from her seat and smiled brightly at him. She held out her hand as if inviting Kyouya to take it before she chirped happily, "Now _stop_ worrying about me so much like your father, Kyou-Kun. I never feel better in my life before than today. So, let's go to the party, I can't wait to _show off_ to all of my friends how handsome my son is." _

_For the first time that day, Kyouya smiled. _

_--_

_**Almost an hour later…**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Main Hall**_

_For the last several minutes, Kyouya had been staring at the figure of a tall and well-built man in an expensive suit standing at the centre of the room who was currently having a deep conversation with several important looking people around him. There was a hint of jealousy mingled with disappointment drawn vividly on his flawless figure yet he did nothing more than looking intently at that guy just like before. _

_Sometimes his onyx eyes darted at the other direction where Naoko was chattering happily to some young women in beautiful dresses although on one or two occasions he caught her gazing fondly at the same guy he had been staring for awhile. Somehow that scenery made him let out an inaudible sigh and felt inexplicably weary. _

_From the corner of his eyes he could see an exquisite mahogany table where most of his birthday presents were stacked up neatly. He clicked his tongue unhappily as he remembered the needless enthusiasms from his father's business acquaintances in giving him their birthday presents._

_There were some of them, just like any of his previous birthdays, insisted in giving him the newest expensive cars, yachts and even small airplanes; completely disregarding the fact that he was _still _not old enough to have any kinds of driving licenses. While some others had obviously thought that this year he would be _happier _than the last to receive a pile of certificates of villas, condominiums and penthouses as his seventh birthday presents. _

_And of course the lists of his presents did not stop in there. _

_There were many more stuff he did not even know the usage of them but yet apparently all those adults seemed to think that he would appreciate their gifts like the heap of blue chip stocks that he received earlier, for example. And as if that was not enough, to add up his displeasure even further, some good friends of his father apparently had been thinking of some _wild_ ideas that he was such an animal lover that made several pairs of innocent kangaroos, pandas, monkeys and even koalas to become under his care starting from that day onwards. _

_He was clearly unhappy with any of those presents_ at all_. Yet seemingly nobody really cared on how he actually felt about the whole ordeal._

_And for the umpteenth time around, his onyx eyes flickered at the direction of the guy with the expensive suit whom by now was standing next to his pallid looking mother, entertaining another group of important-looking people. _

_At that moment, Naoko's brown eyes caught a glimpse of Kyouya standing behind one of the white marble pillars inside the hall. She smiled enthusiastically at him as she gestured him to come forward. Yet all Kyouya did was staring blankly at her and shook his head frantically; refusing her silent request to join her and his father in another long and boring discussion about his future business plans whatsoever with his guests. _

_--_

_Kyouya was always not in the mood of talking with anyone during his birthdays, especially to all the business partners of Yoshio Ootori. They were, just like his father, never really keen on knowing anything about him. Seemingly, their presence in his birthday was anything but to know him at all. At his young age, he had forced himself to accept the reality that, apparently, there was no such thing as sincerity in the society that he lived in. That there were always hidden meanings and other agendas in even the slightest thoughtful gesture offered to him. All of them, except his mother. _

_Therefore, after contemplating with himself for a couple of seconds, Kyouya finally decided to go back to his bedroom since it seemed like it would be quite some time before the party ended. He could not stop but feeling anxious about his mother's health soon after he heard her coughing again in the garden earlier that afternoon. _

_Thus, he obviously did not want to tire out his mother by letting her reading a storybook for him later on that night like she always did every day. Somehow Kyouya thought that if he had already read the story, his mother would not have to force herself to read it aloud for him and she would have more time to rest._

_Yet before he even took his first step, a cheerful voice greeted from the other side of the pillar. Soon after that, Kyouya saw a girl with the darkest shade of brown eyes and a long wavy black hair, not much older than he was beaming happily at him before she placed herself standing next to him. _

"_Why are you standing here alone? Isn't this _your_ birthday party?" the girl said. There was a great interest shown visibly in her eyes as she glanced at Kyouya, waiting patiently for an answer that never came. _

_However the girl did not give up on her attempts to talk with Kyouya as she continued, "I saw you staring at that uncle all along. Do you want to talk with him? I can _call_ him for you if you like." _

_The girl pointed at the guy with the expensive looking suit without any hesitation, ignoring the low gasp that came from Kyouya. _

_Frowning in an apparent distaste, Kyouya tugged back the hand that was still pointing at his father harshly. He snapped coldly, "It's none of your concern. Who are you anyway daringly spying on me?"_

_However, the girl seemed unperturbed with the open-hostility from Kyouya as she replied, "I am Reina Nakashima. You are Ootori-Kun, right? Your father is a close friend of my father so I guess that makes us friends as well. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ootori-Kun."_

"Why_ should we be friends? I don't like spies and busybodies to befriend with me. Just go and leave me alone before I change my mind and ask my SPs to kick you out from here," retorted Kyouya mercilessly. His onyx eyes were glaring menacingly at the girl standing next to him. _

"_Kyou-Kun, it's impolite of you to behave rudely like that especially to a sweet girl like Reina-Chan. Now I want to hear you apologize to her for your bad manner just now."_

_Kyouya left startled once he noticed that his mother was already standing at the place where the little girl was hiding a moment before; probably listening to all the conversation he had with the little girl all along. He scowled a little as he noticed the disappointed frown that was now visible on his mother's beautiful face before he grunted half-heartedly to the girl, "_Sorry_." _

_Upon listening to what her son just said to the little girl Naoko smiled approvingly. Kyouya merely stared at the expensive mahogany table once again in his attempt of hiding the faint blush that crept in his cheeks. _

_Yet he quickly returned his gaze at his mother soon after he heard Reina shouted worriedly, "Are you alright, Auntie?"_

_At once Kyouya knew that there was something wrong with his mother as she pressed her chest in apparent pain once again just like what she did earlier in the gazebo; looked paler than ever. Upon looking at the current condition of his mother, Kyouya had seemed to lose his ability to think of anything but staring at the guy in the expensive suit with an obvious disgust drawn on his flawless face. For a fracture second Kyouya felt like he was already on the verge of calling that guy for help yet Naoko put her hand gently on his shoulder and shook her head a little as though preventing him from doing so. _

_Kyouya raised his head and looked at his mother inquiringly only to be replied with a hint of reassuring smile from her. _

_Yet even before the smile was fading from her beautiful face, Naoko had suddenly collapsed onto the fine marble floor of the hall, leaving Kyouya shouted in panic, "_Mother_! Please wake up… _Mother_!" and Reina gasped in horror, "Is she _dead_?"_

_--_

_**3 weeks later…**_

_**Ootori General Hospital – Room 1 V.I.P Intensive Care Unit **_

"_Did you _know_ where my father is at the moment? It has been several days in a row since his last visit, hasn't it?" asked Kyouya accusingly in a low voice at the young woman wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses. _

_It took Kyouya quite awhile to get a chance in cornering one of the personal assistants of Yoshio Ootori. He had been in a very bad mood lately especially upon noticing how he rarely saw his father around, even when his mother was terribly ill like now. Therefore, once the opportunity came by itself as the personal assistant was on her way to visit his mother for some reasons that he could not even care less, he did not waste his time to interrogate on the whereabouts of his father. _

_Yet he could not help but feeling even angrier at his father once he realized that his father had been hiring people just as secretive as he was. Everything he said, every threat he uttered had made no whatsoever effects on the young woman as the only words she gave him merely comprised of lines in the combination of "I am not very sure, Ootori-Sama." "I wish I could be more helpful on this matter, Ootori-Sama." Or "I am afraid I could not help you for this matter, Ootori-Sama."_

_Kyouya glared at the young woman in repugnance, as though it was _her_ mistake in the first place that made his father unable to come to the hospital for the umpteenth time around. _

"_Kyou-Kun, how many times have I told you not to speak with people who are older than you in that kind of impolite manner? Furthermore, it's uncivil of you to force people to say things against their own will."_

_Kyouya turned his head around quickly only to find his mother leaning against the doorframe as though she would not be able to stand still without any supports. Naoko's face was still as attractive as ever although it seemed that she had lost some weights during her stay in the hospital. _

"_Why do you have to leave your bed, Mother? Do you need anything? I can bring it for you if you just called me. You know that Takagi-Sensei has _clearly_ said that you need to take care more of your health," stated Kyouya disapprovingly as he stormed towards his mother and helped her to go back to her bed. He did not bother to explain to his mother the reason why he had to resort to such rude manner in the first place upon noticing her mother's pacing breaths as though it took a great effort for her to keep her consciousness. _

_Naoko let Kyouya guided her and merely chuckling softly as she turned her head a little to speak to the young woman whom still sat quietly like a statue on the marvellous black leather couch of the living room._

"_You can tell him that I understand why he has to do what he needs to do. Just please don't let him overburden himself on that matter, Miho-San. It does not really matter to me whether or not he's able to fulfil it as long as he takes care of himself." _

_As if on cue the young woman nodded politely before she left the room in a swift manner. _

_Kyouya frowned as he covered his mother's legs with the white-woollen blanket that he pulled out from the end of the bed as though immersing deeply in his thoughts. _

"_Were you just talking about _father_, Mother? Why are you still treating him this nice when he never even bothered to take a good care of you?" asked Kyouya in such aggravation as soon as he realized whom his mother must have meant when she spoke to his father's assistant a moment ago._

_Naoko gave Kyouya a warm smile, a little too understanding, in fact, for Kyouya's taste. She caressed his son's raven hair and gestured him to sit next to her before saying, "You are too young to understand it now, Kyou-Kun. But there will be a day when you finally meet someone you truly love and care. And at that time you will understand that there is _nothing_ more important than the happiness of the person you love even when it has to come with such a high _price_." _

_Kyouya felt a jolt of pang in his chest somehow upon listening to what his mother just told him. He did not really understand what his mother was trying to explain to him in the first place but it was not all that important for him. The only thing he could roughly guess at that point was that his mother felt forlorn because of the absence of his father. _

_And it made him hated his father even more when he noticed hint of sadness in Naoko's smile as she gave him a warm embrace before the chauffeur appeared from the living room to pick him up only a moment later. _

"_Do you want me to sleep in here with you, Mother? I can go to school from here since it also helps me feel less worried about your wellbeing," said Kyouya all of a sudden. His onyx eyes somewhat looked hopeful. _

_Yet much to Kyouya's surprise, Naoko merely laughed heartily as she replied, "You really are Yoshi's son, Kyou-Kun." _

_--_

_**5 days later**__…_

_**Ootori General Hospital – Dr. Takagi's Office **_

_Kyouya could only faintly hear what Dr. Takagi had said from behind the half-closed door. He always hated people who poked their nose on other people's business yet he could not help but feeling curious on what the doctor had to say to his father that even his oldest brother Akito could not listen to it. He did not care whether what he did at the moment could be considered as prying or not; as long as it concerned his mother, he would be more than willing to do anything. _

"_I am really sorry but I am afraid there's nothing we can do anymore, Ootori-Sama. The cancer has spread rapidly even to her vital organs," said Dr. Takagi ruefully. _

"_How much time do we still have?" asked Yoshio in a matter-of-factly tone. _

_It seemed like there was no answer coming out from Dr. Takagi even when Kyouya pressed his ear hard against the door. The only words he could make out next were when Yoshio replied, "I understand. Thank you for all your help, Takagi-Sensei. Naoko and I are really grateful for all the assistance you give to us all this while."_

_And Kyouya felt more than surprised when at the next moment the door was open all of a sudden only to reveal Yoshio looked completely bewildered upon seeing his youngest son crawling on the carpeted floor. Yet for a flicker second Kyouya could swear that he saw a trace of tears in his father's onyx eyes that were so greatly alike with the ones he had. However, there were no words coming out from Yoshio's mouth. He merely walked away in swift pace leaving his youngest son behind. _

_But before Kyouya was able to stop himself, he shouted at his father's back with his voice slightly quivered from some unspeakable emotions, "Why do you have to ask about how much time that mother still has when you clearly _never_ bothered to take care of her anyway? Do you know that mother even said to me that when you truly love somebody, you will consider your own happiness as the least priority than hers? But I don't see you doing it for her at all, Father."_

_Yoshio stopped dead in his track as he listened to what Kyouya had said yet he did not reply him or even turned his head around to take a good look at him. He merely continued walking a second later as though he did not hear what his son just screamed at him. _

_As Kyouya saw the figure of his father walked away from that place, Kyouya muttered in a low voice, "I _really_ hate you, Father."_

_--_

_**Later part that night…**_

_**Ootori General Hospital – Room 1 V.I.P Intensive Care Unit **_

"_How long have you been standing there, Yoshi? If you didn't wear that kind of horribly sexy suit, I swear for a second I almost thought that you were my deathbed angel," chirped Naoko in a slightly hoarse voice yet she was smiling happily upon noticing Yoshio's figure standing next to the doorframe all the same. _

"_I told you so many times not to use _that_ kind of jokes with me. You should know it by now that it's not funny at all," said Yoshio as he shot an exasperated look at his wife before sitting next to her on her bed. _

_Naoko chucked softly as she touched Yoshio's somewhat paler face gently. She bit her lower lips for a fracture second before she spoke once again, "You know I will be missing you and all your preaches, Yoshi."_

"Don't_…" cracked Yoshio at last upon noticing a strange gleam flashed by on Naoko's brown eyes. _

_Yet he never had a chance to continue with his sentence as at that exact moment Naoko kissed him with tears streaming out from her eyes. _

_When a moment later Naoko broke the kiss, Yoshio merely stared at his wife with an unreadable expression. He let out a small sigh as he caressed her long dark hair before grunted groggily, "I could not believe how I _always_ let myself being cheated that easily by you even until today."_

_Naoko grinned naughtily as she wiped away the trace of tears that was evident on Yoshio's face. _

"_Isn't that the reason _why_ you love me dearly, Yoshi?" taunted Naoko with her eyes brimming with amusement. _

"_The very same reason that makes our son hates me, I guess. I've even heard from him that you said that love means that you have to prioritize the other person before your own," replied Yoshio almost bitterly. _

_Naoko's brown eyes went bigger upon listening to what Yoshio just said. _

"_Oh? And what did you say to him? That _you _were the one who told me so last time?"_

_When Yoshio fell quiet, Naoko frowned. _

"_I thought I have given you a great chance to explain yourself to your own son but you just have to blow it again. I could not stand both of you; you're much too similar for my great frustration. Didn't you realize that you make me worried to _death_?"_

"_Don't talk about it that lightly, Nakki. Please, I…" Yoshio pushed his glasses to the brink of his nose before he cleared his throat and added sulkily, "Now can you just tell me _how_ should I continue my live _without_ you around? You know that I am not good in talking with any of our kids yet you still insist on leaving me alone."_

"_Obviously you will still carry on living, Yoshi. Even when I'm long gone you have to make sure that you will take great care of all our children; I will consider that as your _debt_ to me," answered Naoko in a tone that was much too lightly. _

_Yoshio's jaw hardened by the time he snapped with irritation, "It's so unfair seeing how life has been treating you when you're just too damn good. I always regret myself for not taking care of you better than all this while. A lousy husband and even lousier father like I am will always bring nothing but grief to a person like you, Nakki."_

_Naoko let out a small yawn before she stared at Yoshio's onyx eyes and spoke bluntly, "Where can I find a better husband who's willing to sacrifice everything just to make the dream of the _lousiest_ architect on earth comes true? Truthfully, I only want you to tell Kyou-Kun where you were lately so that he won't have a misunderstanding about you. I…" _

_Naoko yawned once again that made Yoshio looked at her concernedly. _

"_Why don't you just lay back and rest for awhile? I will be waiting for you here when you wake up."_

"_No, I don't feel like sleeping now. What if I never wake up and see you anymore once I fall asleep, Yoshi?" _

_Naoko's brown eyes felt like piercing Yoshio into pieces. He could not help but feeling like he was being stunned by the blatant words from her. _

_Yet there was a lingering smile on Yoshio's face by the time he answered her back, "Then I will see you again in my _dreams_ for the rest of my life, Nakki. It doesn't really matter for me whether I see you here or in my dreams; as long as you're happy and contented I guess that's what counts the most for me."_

_Naoko chuckled softly upon listening to the sweet words from her husband at the same time when tears started to fall from her eyes once again. _

_And as she gave Yoshio a warm embrace, she whispered softly in his ear, "Then I will make sure that I will bore you to death in your dreams, Yoshi."_

_--_

_**The following morning…**_

_**Ootori General Hospital – Room 1 V.I.P Intensive Care Unit **_

_Kyouya could not help but thinking that his mother might have been sleeping soundlessly since she still looked as beautiful as ever with her brown eyes closed peacefully like that. It must have been a really bad joke made up by his father as a punishment for his misdemeanour the day before when he heard him saying that his mother had _gone.

_For all Kyouya knew, his mother would never leave him _without_ saying any goodbyes. Therefore he had been cautiously avoiding speaking '_goodbyes_' whenever he was around her so that he would always see her awaiting for him with her happy smiles the next day. _

_Yet even until he reached his mother's luxurious bed with Akito, Fuyumi and Yojiri standing on both of his sides, her mother still continued sleeping much too soundly. She had not fluttered her brown eyes open to greet him like what she always did every single day during her stay in the hospital. _

_And somehow it made him realized that his father was telling the truth. The day when he could see his mother's warm smile had suddenly come to an abrupt end. _

_Naoko Ootori had gone to a place where nobody could reach her anymore. Including _him.

**-- **to be continued --

**A/N:** My current life is as hectic as ever since I will have to move out from my house very soon and believe me, looking for a new place to live in Singapore is not an easy task to do. Still, after all the house-hunting, watching K-dramas, reading mangas, and working I finally managed to finish this chapter faster than the one before this. Can it be considered as an achievement for me? LOL. Please don't forget to give me your comments and reviews of this chapter. I willl really... really... appreciate it!

**Thanks a lot for all the supports from: angelsammi**, **RyanA**, **iruka92**, **b0nb0ng1rl**, **m!zubon2**, **whereismydear**, **desperategirl**, **Kichou**, **Incoherent**, **Wendy**, **waizzz**, **mizbonbon**, **bonitolover**, **Tis Inevitable**, **Ya-Chan**, **wiwionly**, **SnowCharms**, **Lady Light**, **Xan**, **Dark Angel of Pain and Chaos**, **Kalachuchi**, **ichinanahachi**, **Topaztok**, **toni**, **TONI**, **BlackBlaze**, **fantine89**, **Lakoma**, **KuroxTenshi**, **bfanatic**, **dealuvsanime**, **Rangerette**, **Xx Tohru xXx Seraphina xX**.

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	12. Eleven

Disclaimer: I own nothing concerning Ouran except the plotline of this story

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

-- _**Eleven**_ --

As the only child in the Fujioka household, Haruhi used to be alone. With both of her parents working, she was growing accustomed to do many things all by herself. She was too independent for her own good, complained Ranka most of the times. And after her mother passed away, somehow she no longer felt anything out of ordinary to return home only to find an empty apartment greeting her, as her father already went off for work by the time she reached there.

There was nothing wrong with being alone. That was what she thought all along.

Yet she could not shrug off the feeling that something was amiss even when all the members of the Ootori vacation house's staff greeted her by the time she returned from the beach. It went even worse as the pit of her stomach seemed inexplicably hollow by the time she finished taking a bath only to find several maids waiting for her orders outside the luxurious bathroom.

Therefore, she could not help but thinking that she must have gone crazy as she entered the dining room only to find all her favourite dishes had been served on the long dining table but yet the she had no appetite whatsoever to eat her dinner. It was too ironic for her to realise as she took the first bite of ootoro, that in the house with so many people around her, for some unfamiliar reasons, she felt inexplicably lonely.

And when for the umpteenth time that evening her eyes accidentally glimpsed at the other end of the long dining table only to see an empty seat, the truth finally hit her. If she dared to believe what her heart told her that moment, the main reason why she felt that way was simply because of the sudden absence of the guy with a pair of onyx eyes.

She could not deny that she had grown used to the company of the Shadow King around her all the while she lived under the same roof with him and his uncharacteristic absence at that moment obviously would not go unnoticed. It was not much of a help when for some reasons she preferred to obliterate completely from her mind, the vivid recollection of how the hug from that guy tickling her skin came back to her so unexpectedly and made her cheek felt like burning the same way it did earlier that afternoon.

After his abrupt confession to her in the gazebo earlier that day, somehow she was half-expected that he, of all people in the house, would show up with his casual smirk casted upon his flawless face as he tried to annoy her in his usual snide like any other day once she came back from the beach. It was just like an anticlimax for her to find that he was nowhere to be seen even after she finished her dinner. She had even made herself wandering around aimlessly inside the many rooms of the Ootori vacation house for as long as her feet could take her in a vain hope of catching a glimpse of him for the purpose she had failed to understand it herself.

And somehow for the first time in her life she felt like crying by the time she was finally left alone in her spacious bedroom after giving her reassurance to all the maids that she would not need their assistance for the rest of the evening. The realization struck her all too sudden that, apparently, all along she was only hiding herself behind the feign acceptance of being alone. It never occurred to her how forlorn she was back then; that all the while when she was alone she, too, also felt lonely.

In the end, Haruhi could not help but thinking that she was, undoubtedly, beyond crazy by then as a wild thought wistfully crossed her mind; that her messy feelings at that exact moment had _something_ to do with the missing presence of a certain Shadow King and _everything_ to do with his sudden confession.

--

Kyouya had been sitting inside the security room all alone ever since he reached the Ootori vacation house. He had asked his SPs to vacate the place and even refused the company of his most trusted assistant, Tachibana in there.

He did not know what the reason was that made him decided to leave Haruhi alone in the gazebo when in the end he could not help but wanting to know her whereabouts, feeling pathetic not to mention angry at himself. For all he knew, he had been regretting his decision for not asking her to return back to the house together with him as soon as he took his first step away from that place. Still, being prideful as he was, he did not have any other choice but to continue walking away without even took the slightest glance at her. But it obviously did not stop him from checking on her when the first thing he ever did as he stepped into the house was heading to the basement where the security room was located, in which only very few staff members were allowed to be there in the first place.

He had to admit that his father's meticulousness in putting such a thorough security measurement inside the house as well as its surrounding was really uncanny, even for his standards. It always made him wonder why his father had to do that, considering the fact that none of his siblings as well as himself ever spent much time visiting that house in the first place. Thus, he could not see why it had to be any different for his father, whom, obviously, busier than all of them combined.

Kyouya even remembered that the only time his family ever visited the house as a family was a couple of months after their mother's death. It also happened to be the only time Yoshio ever asked him and his siblings to spend their summer holiday together in that island for some reasons that he failed to understand even until now. Or probably it was simply because he never really tried to understand it to begin with.

One way or another, it did not really make any difference anymore for him whether or not he was able to comprehend his father's antics. Ever since the day his mother died, he had sworn to himself that everything related with Yoshio Ootori was strictly only for business purposes. It did not matter to him how much he resembled his father like what his late mother had pointed out far too many times. It was almost tragic that the only similarity he admitted both him and his father shared happened to be the one left unmentioned by her. For him, his only existence was to secure more benefits for the Ootori clan and so was his father. It was the only similarity between him and his father and probably would always remain that way.

But that evening for once he was a bit more than grateful with his father's bizarreness in installing so many hidden cameras that covered almost literally even to every nook and cranny of the house. Yet it was definitely more than disturbing for him to find that his father did not even leave the any of the bathrooms unmonitored, and feeling slightly alarmed as he perfectly knew that a certain brunette girl in that house would have killed him instantly if she ever found out that he had, incidentally, peeked on her while she was taking a bath.

In his defence, he never intentionally did that in the first place, although if he must admit, he really should have taken his eyes away from the sight much sooner than what he actually did. Somehow it had made him put a mental note to ask Tachibana to switch off the said camera that was responsible for his faster heartbeats and sudden heat that swept him currently while at the same time could not help but feeling slightly worried over whether any of his SPs had already enjoyed the same privileges (not that he was a pervert to ever think that it was a privilege to begin with, but all in all, he was not complaining since if truth be told, he was surely quite enjoying it himself). And far more importantly was what he should do next once he found out the truth from his SPs and whether he would be able to handle it for that particular matter.

Kyouya sighed quietly in the darkness of the room with the only glimmer of light came from the many screens that were still showing different kinds of episodes and landscapes of the house as well as its surrounding. Yet his onyx eyes never left one on of the many identical screens in front of him. It merely revealed the very same girl with a tinge of boyish look whom had just turned off the light of her bedroom and leaving the feeble moonlight peeking from behind the open balcony across the extravagant bed, illuminating her sleeping figure. Yet before she hit the light, Kyouya almost could swear that he saw a glint of tears in those big amber eyes. But only a moment later he shrugged off the thought as quick as it came since he painfully remembered that she was not exactly the type of girl who would suddenly shed tears for no apparent reasons. Why would she cry all of a sudden when only less than few hours earlier she shown nothing more interesting than a dumbfounded look upon hearing what he felt about her?

Nevertheless, a more audible groan escaped involuntarily from his lips and a slight annoyance was visible on his handsome face as something very much like invisible bubbles had been uninvitingly simmering inside him; clearly hoping that it was not the light that just played a trick on him. For some foolish reasons that he could not bring up to think about, he really wanted to believe that the sleeping girl had been thinking about him just like he could not help but thinking about her in every second of his life. And that somehow she, _too_, had been missing him.

--

It was still very early in the morning when Haruhi woke up with the same hollow sensation still lingering on the pit of her stomach. After convinced herself that it must have been hunger and lack of sleeping that made her feel that way, she decided to take a quick shower and head down to the dining room.

She was almost half-expected that there would be nobody around in the dining room yet as the grandfather clock located in the end of the big hallway was showing that it was still barely six o'clock. Yet just like in the main Ootori House in Tokyo, apparently the morning activities of the maids preparing breakfast or merely doing cleaning chores had already taken place inside the building.

She never really understood why rich people seemed to enjoy to wasting a lot of time not to mention money like starting the breakfast preparation such early in the morning, even when everyone in the household knew perfectly that the young master Ootori would never wake up before eleven in the morning. Yet she failed to make Kyouya understand such inefficiency within his household that usually ended up with them arguing pointlessly.

"_They can start work from 8 am, Kyouya-Senpai. There is still more than enough time to prepare your breakfast, as I never see you broke that record of yours of waking up at 10 am on my first day living with you. It always makes me wonder how it is possible for you not to have any morning classes at all," asked Haruhi to the person as she glanced at the place where Kyouya sat at the moment. It was Saturday, and as neither of them had plans to go outside for the whole day; they merely spent most of their time playing with Hajime in the living room until one of the nurses took him for his afternoon nap. _

_Kyouya seemed to have no particular interest in giving Haruhi any satisfactory reply as he took that day's afternoon newspaper after putting aside the Tokyo Gazette he just finished reading. _

"_They have to start early so that they can prepare everything for Hajime when he wakes up. You know he's grumpier in the morning. As for my classes, I can only assume that luck is always on my side." _

_The corner of Haruhi's mouth twitched as she heard the answer from Kyouya. Things were never as simple as what they might have sounded when they came from Kyouya Ootori. _

"_I do not think that it is advisable to let kids below 3 years old to eat omelette or chicken stew, Kyouya-Senpai," replied Haruhi quickly while her gaze never left the guy who was still busily reading the articles from the same newspaper. _

_Kyouya cleared his throat before saying, "Those things, obviously, are prepared for adults, Haruhi."_

"_Then what's the point of preparing the food that early when it's still hours before you wake up anyway, Senpai?" asked Haruhi as she got more impatient with Kyouya's indifference and instantly stood up from her seat. Without further ado, she approached the guy whom still burying himself under the newspaper and snatched away the newspaper from his hands._

_Unable to contain his surprised and amusement at what Haruhi had just done, Kyouya finally glanced at the girl in front of her. He finally noticed the frowns that appeared in Haruhi's beautiful face and answered her in a casual tone "But you, unlike me, have morning classes, Haruhi." _

_After finished speaking, Kyouya merely gave Haruhi his casual smirk and crossed his arms over his chest without taking his gaze from her; as though it was perfectly normal for him to be disturbed from his ritual of reading the newspapers. It really amused him to know that there was a person who had enough guts to seize what he had been reading without any fear or hesitation._

"_So you ask them to prepare the food for me?" Haruhi's amber eyes went bigger as she failed to hide her shock upon listening to Kyouya's answer._

"_Well, you do need to eat breakfast, don't you?" replied Kyouya patiently, as though he was talking to Hajime instead of an (annoyed-looking) adult. _

_Haruhi sighed in defeat. There was no way on earth that made Kyouya changed his minds when it came to these kinds of things. _

"_Yeah... But I can eat in my faculty's cafeteria during the break if I am hungry." _

_There was a frown visible on Kyouya's flawless face but missed by Haruhi as she put away the newspaper together with the rest of the reading materials that Kyouya had put next to him to the other end of the sofa, far from the guy's reach._

"_I have checked your cafeteria last time and the menu is very unhealthy not to mention the fact that the hygiene standard in there is very much questionable."_

_Haruhi shook her head sadly as she sat next to Kyouya, feeling somewhat exhausted. _

"_You may end up being sued by my faculty if they ever heard you said that, Senpai. And for your info, even before I stayed with you, I always ate there and nothing bad ever happened to me."_

_Kyouya ignored her answer completely and only replied grimly, "Is it true that more than half of the students in the Law department are male?"_

"_Probably... I never really took notice about it. What has it got anything to do with our conversation, Senpai?"_

_In less than a fracture second, Kyouya smirked. "Of course because it is proven in many researches that guys are _more_ unhygienic than girls. You can imagine how _unhygienic_ your faculty's cafeteria is as there are more guys than girls in there." _

_Haruhi chuckled as she looked at the guy sitting next to her and said, "I never heard such ridiculous research before, Senpai. It is more believable if you say that you are jealous with..."_

"_Yes, I am afraid I _am_."_

"_...my _plebeian_ immune system..." added Haruhi with her big amber eyes opened wide in surprise as she heard what Kyouya had just said._

The voice that rang next to her brought Haruhi to the present unwillingly.

"Fujioka-Sama, we have prepared special breakfast menus for you."

"Eh?"

"Ootori-Sama has requested for the Chef to prepare these dishes especially for you as he was very concerned with your health since you left your dinner almost untouched yesterday. They are comprised of different kinds of porridge and congee for you. We hope that you find them suitable with your taste."

The fact that Kyouya seemed to take notice about her health did not make Haruhi feel any better if not even worse. If that guy managed to know whether or not she had eaten well on the previous night, why he did not bother to show up and ask her straight? Did she expect too much out of him? But it was so unlike her to think that way. For once, she was never a girl who set any expectation on anyone or anything at all.

"I am really grateful for your concern, but I am fine."

But from the way the butler looked at her, Haruhi knew that she was not all that convincing for a person who said that she was alright. She noticed it herself when she took a shower that she was indeed look paler than usual.

Rather to say something other than discussing her personal health, Haruhi said, "All of you must be very busy preparing for the party today for Hajime's birthday. How many guests are invited to the party?" Painfully remembering all the parties managed by Kyouya during their high school days, Haruhi expected at least a hundred people were invited for the event.

Before the butler managed to say anything, Tachibana whom apparently had arrived in the dining room without Haruhi was even aware gave the reply.

"You are the only guest invited for the party, Fujioka-Sama."

She wanted to correct Tachibana that she could not be counted as Kyouya's guest since she was, just like him and the rest of the people in the house, working for the youngest master of the Ootori family. But she knew it better that it was just as pointless as explaining to Kyouya about the time efficiency in running the household to contradict Tachibana about her status in the house. She never thought before that it was a very difficult thing to explain to any of Kyouya's staff that she was only a mere employee just like the rest of them. In the end she could only conclude that it was probably because all of them knew that she used to be their master's friend in high school, therefore it was hard to treat her as their colleague let alone their friend.

As if remembered something Haruhi added, "What about Kyouya-Senpai's father? Won't he be celebrating with us as well?"

"I am afraid not, Fujioka-Sama. Ootori-Sama has gone to Beijing yesterday afternoon."

"Oh," was the only word that Haruhi can come up with. It was much unexpected for Kyouya to celebrate his son's birthday without inviting anyone. But she thought that at the very least Yoshio would stay to celebrate together with them after he came all the way down to the island.

Before Haruhi lost in her own thoughts, Tachibana spoke again, "Ootori-Sama wishes to see you once you finish your meal, Fujioka-Sama."

--

Haruhi had to ask Tachibana to repeat his sentence for at least two more times before she could finally believe that she was not hearing things. Still, she could not stop herself from taking a quick look a tad too often at the golden clock hung on the other end of the wall, as though she needed a reconfirmation on whether or not she had misread the time. But no matter how many times she checked the clock, it still showed the same thing; that it was still nowhere near 7 am.

The thought that the former Shadow King could wake up such early in the morning somewhat made her unconsciously felt alarmed. It was a whole new record for that guy to be able to wake up at 10 am last time and she could remember vividly how particularly grumpy he was on that day. Yet there was a tinge of unexplainable happiness bubbling inside her; thinking that apparently Kyouya did not purposely avoid or ignore her on the previous night. She might have been overreacting in reading the situation between her and Kyouya especially after his sudden confession after all.

--

"Where are we going, Tachibana-San?" asked Haruhi after they have walked in total silence for almost fifteen minutes. She had thought that Kyouya wanted to see her somewhere inside the big house but she was wrong. Somewhat when it came to that Shadow King she realised that it was very hard to predict his way of thinking or reasoning and probably there would never be a time for her to fully understand them.

"We are almost there, Fujioka-Sama," replied Tachibana politely.

After biting her lower lips as if hesitating for a moment, Haruhi spoke once again, "Can I ask you something, Tachibana-San?"

Tachibana stopped his steps and looked at Haruhi over his shoulder as though it was an indirect answer of saying that she could go on with her question before he continued walking in front of the girl.

"How long have you been working with Kyouya-Senpai?"

"I have been working with the Ootori family even before Yojiri-Sama was born. I guess it's almost 25 years by now." There was the faintest hint of reminiscence in the way Tachibana spoke.

"Does Kyouya-Senpai always live in that big house alone? As far as I remember, even during high school days I never see any of Kyouya's siblings and parents in there," asked Haruhi bluntly.

Haruhi was not very sure whether it's because there's a sudden wind blowing at their direction or because Tachibana intended to speak softer than what he normally did since his voice was barely audible when he said, "The 6 of them used to live together in that mansion before Naoko-Sama passed away. After Yojiri-Sama and Fuyumi-Sama got married, they left the house. Currently, Akito-Sama lives with Yoshio-Sama in one of their other mansions. Therefore now Kyouya-Sama only lives with Hajime-Sama in there."

"But why Kyouya has to live in that big house only with Hajime? What about... Hajime's mother?" A tight knot seemed to swell inside her chest as soon as Haruhi asked the question that had been quietly lingering in her mind since the day she knew that Kyouya had a son.

There was a sharp intake of breath came from Tachibana, as though she was just unwinding a forbidden question. Yet before she could have any answers from her previous question, the tall guy spoke in a more cautious manner, as if he was afraid that he had let on more information to Haruhi than what he should have.

As though it was his attempt to divert Haruhi's attention, Tachibana hurriedly said, "Ootori-Sama is waiting for you inside, Fujioka-Sama."

"Isn't this a church? Why is Kyouya-Senpai waiting for me in here?" asked Haruhi anxiously as she could not hide her surprise on this latest finding.

Only then Haruhi realised that they had stopped in front of a white cathedral that was not unlike the main vacation house where she was staying the other night. It was just as grand and still, but unlike the house, there were no other flowers besides white lilies surrounding it, just like a fairy castle in a storytelling book she read when she was young.

Yet instead of giving her any replies, Tachibana bowed politely to somebody behind her, which made Haruhi turned around to see Kyouya whom looked as effortlessly handsome as usual in his white and expensive looking apparel; standing aloofly in front of them while hugging his sleeping son.

"You will know soon enough Haruhi. You have kept me and Hajime waiting in here like forever I almost thought that you were lost on your way here," said Kyouya casually. Yet unbeknown to Haruhi, he glanced at Tachibana with a cold stare that could make any normal person shiver before he gestured his assistance to leave the place.

"Kyouya-Senpai..."

--

"I almost thought that you've been avoiding me, Kyouya-Senpai. But it was nothing compared to the big surprise in knowing that you are apparently capable of waking up this early." Haruhi chuckled as she stroked Hajime's raven hair gently. They were walking inside the church that was even more mesmerising than looking at it from the outside.

"It's only proving the facts that there are some things that will remain impossible while other things are possible no matter how improbable they are, isn't it, Haruhi?" answered Kyouya with an indifferent air around him.

Haruhi failed to understand the subtlety of Kyouya's words but neither of them pushed the issue further.

After spending couple of seconds hesitating on which kind of topics that were neutral enough to be discussed without aggravated the guy as he was not exactly a morning person to begin with, Haruhi said, "I never know that you are a Catholic, Senpai."

"Well, I am not. But my mother was," replied Kyouya calmly without looking at Haruhi.

Kyouya's answer made Haruhi's heart skip a beat. There was only another occasion aside from the day before when they ever talked about his mother and she could safely say that neither of them went smoothly. And hearing Kyouya's next sentence did not help if not even make it worse.

"And if you wonder why there's a church in this island, probably you can say that it's a token of remembrance. It's my father's way of showing his belated devotion to her, I guess." Kyouya's tone was cold and hard as if he was trying hard to suppress his bitterness inside him.

Haruhi did not know the main reason why she did what she had done a moment after Kyouya finished his sentence. Probably because he looked so menacing that he appeared like a wounded little boy than the usual Shadow King, or probably because the way he feigned indifference that he looked like he was still living in an unfinished denial rather than anger. She was not even sure where she got the courage from but nonetheless, she took Kyouya's cold hand that was not carrying Hajime and squeezing it gently as though trying to lend her strength for him. However, if Kyouya felt surprised by her action, he hid it well as there was no change in his facial expression even when he took a glance at the short-haired girl walking next to him.

--

They were walking down through a spiral staircase made from white marble in silence but not unpleasant and neither of them had let go each other's hand all the while.

The staircase was apparently leading to a bright high-ceilinged room that Haruhi almost forgot that they were in the basement. The room was almost as large as the church upstairs but bare from any kinds of furniture. There were many paintings in different sizes hung on each side of the walls as though the room was used as a painting exhibition hall, mostly illustrating different kinds of houses and outdoor sceneries except for one portraying a family of six. The Ootori's family painting was hung right next to the white and marvellous looking French door.

It was the first time Haruhi saw Kyouya's entire family members. Even without taking a good look at the painting, Haruhi knew that among all his siblings, Kyouya was the one resembled his father most. He must have been not older than 6 years old in the painting, carried by one of the most stunningly beautiful women that Haruhi ever saw. The two of them bore the same sunny smiles and looked sincerely delighted that Haruhi did not even know that Kyouya used to have that kind of smile in the first place.

"Are you finished gawking at the painting, Haruhi? Just to let you know, the paintings will not go anywhere. You can go and see them whenever you want." Kyouya said as he secretly learned the facial expression of the girl beside him.

There was the faintest blush appeared on Haruhi's pale cheeks as she stuttered, "Ah... Sorry, Senpai. It's my first time to see all your family members since I never see any pictures of them in your house."

"Well, I suppose it's because I don't particularly see the necessity of hanging a family picture in there, Haruhi." There was an icy edge in Kyouya's uninterested tone when he spoke.

After a moment of awkwardness, Haruhi asked in the most casual tone she could muster, "Oh. Then what are we going to do in here?"

Before she could help it, her amber eyes went bigger as she stammered, "Ah... don't tell me that you're going to tell me something related with yesterday's event. I mean... I..."

"As much as I keen to rekindle our previous argument, I am still willing to give you more time to think through what I have told you yesterday. For now, let's just conclude that probably it's really not my talent to be spontaneous that in the end it didn't serve any goods and only caused you to worry unnecessarily."

Haruhi did not know whether she was relieved or sad upon hearing what Kyouya said. Before she could say anything, Kyouya spoke again while looked at her in the gentlest expression that he ever gave her.

"Today I only want to introduce you and Hajime to my mother, Haruhi."

"Eh?"

"If you are scared or uncomfortable, you may leave this room. I do not want to force you to do things that you do not want." there was a sincere tenderness in Kyouya's tone that made Haruhi's heart leapt unwillingly.

"So this is..." Before Haruhi could complete her sentence, Kyouya added in.

"My mother's mausoleum." Haruhi looked at the handsome guy before her as though it was the very first time she had truly seen him.

And before she could think of all the consequences that might come from her decision, Haruhi could hear herself said, "I would like to meet her, Senpai."

--

The mausoleum was nowhere near eerie as what she normally saw in horror movies. It was painted in the palest hue of broken white just like the church or the vacation house itself. There were fresh lilies on the side table next to a white couch facing the marble coffin with the same colour located in the centre of the room. There was only one single painting hung on the other side of the wall showing Naoko's smiling face while holding a very big bucket of white lilies.

As they almost reached the coffin, Kyouya's onyx eyes were hidden behind his bangs yet they could not hide the slight tremble in his normally cold voice.

"I am here, Mother. I am so sorry it took me long enough to visit you again."

Kyouya put one of his hand that he had let go from Haruhi's on the top of the marble coffin as he continued in a voice that was barely a whisper, "I always want you to introduce you to the most important people in my life, Mother. You would have enjoyed their presence so much if you had met them in person. This is Haruhi Fujioka and the little guy here is my son, Hajime. Can you see that he looks exactly like me, Mother? I just hope that he will not be like me when he grows older..."

There was something hot caught up Haruhi's eyes and for a moment the scenery in front of her went blurry.

"Kyouya-Senpai..."

Although it was almost inaudible, Kyouya could hear the faintest sob from beside him. Looking slightly bewildered, he said, "Why are you crying, Haruhi? Is there anything wrong?"

"No... I guess the thought that you must have loved and missed your mother so much made me unable to stop myself from crying. I'm so sorry to be such a cry-baby in times like these," sobbed Haruhi as she wiped away her tears quickly and looked at anywhere but the guy standing next to her.

There was a painful smile in Kyouya's flawless face as he spoke.

"I remember that I never cried in front of my mother even for once. When she was alive, I thought that my cries would only make her illness worsened. When I was in the hospital to see her for the very last time, I dared not to cry for fear that I would seal the truth; that I would never be able to see her anymore starting on that day onwards." As Kyouya spoke, his hand caressed the edge of the marble coffin gently as though he was afraid that he might break it if he put too much force on it.

"And as I grow older, I guess it's much easier for me not to come and visit her anymore for fear that there will be a day when I blame her for leaving me behind so the thought of me crying in front of her no longer holds any meaning. It's really unfair for such a nice person like her to have a son like me, I suppose."

An immeasurable pang jabbed Haruhi's heart as though she was unwilling to see Kyouya seemed so broken while she could not help him easing it even for a bit.

"I do not understand why you have to belittle yourself like that, Kyouya-Senpai. Those kinds of thoughts are the ones that truly unfair to your mother. Because if she's just as nice as what you said, she would have known how you really feel even when you never cried in front of her."

Yet without Haruhi even realised it herself, it was probably because of what she had just said that made Kyouya unable to prevent one single drop of tears from falling from his onyx eyes. There were no sadness or anger that he feared might take over him whenever he felt like crying in front of his mother all the while. In fact if he could really be honest with himself, he was never felt that free and unburdened like that before.

For his surprise, there were a pair of gentle hands wiped his barely visible strains of tears from his pale cheeks. As though both of them were caught off guard on the spur of the moment and before neither of them was really aware of what they were doing, Haruhi pulled Kyouya gently as she tiptoed and locked her lips with his.

Yet before Kyouya could take in what just happened between the two of them, the voice of his mother that he had thought was already long forgotten came into his mind once again.

"_You are too young to understand it now, Kyou-Kun. But there will be a day when you finally meet someone you truly love and care. And at that time you will understand that there is _nothing_ more important than the happiness of the person you love even when it has to come with such a high _price_."_

* * *

_**2 years 8 months 14 days ago...**_

_**In front of the 3**__**rd**__** Music Room**_

"_Why are you all staying outside? Why don't you go in instead of peeking in like that?" asked Haruhi while carrying a freshly laundered stack of costumes. She had just gone down to the nearby launderette to collect some of their costumes after they finished entertaining the girls together with the rest of the host club members earlier that afternoon. _

"_Ooh... my dear daughter. Do not go into the music room for now. Your mother is in a terrible state of mind. You will be killed before you know it when he's in one of his dark moods like today." _

_Haruhi sighed. She forgot how exaggerating the host club members sometimes. _

"_But a moment ago he seems perfectly fine to me when we were entertaining the girls."_

"_You are too innocent to understand the complexity of your mother's inner thoughts Haruhi. In front of the girls he would surely consider the necessity to act civil as they are our customers but in front of us he would not pamper us with the same kind of treatment." _

_Haruhi shook her head quietly as she thought that the unnecessarily complicated not to mention ridiculous way of thinking of the blonde guy was the only one that went beyond her comprehension. She had to bite her lips not to let her opinions slip for fear that Tamaki might have one of his dejected scenes in one corner of the room in which in the end always made them going home much later than what they were supposed to be to appease him. _

_Haruhi brushed past the twins who were busily peeking in through the gaps between the French doors of the 3__rd__ Music Room. _

"_I do not see the difference with Kyouya-Senpai, Tamaki-Senpai. Do not blow things over the top. Please let's just get in so we can start the meeting and finish it faster. I got a discount coupon for ribs at the supermarket that will only be valid till 5 pm today."_

"_How can you say that I am blowing things over the top, Daughter? You have broken my heart with your words," stated Tamaki over his shoulder when he sobbed at one corner of the empty hallway. _

"_Ne... Tama-Chan, is it alright for us to go in? I want to eat my cakes... And so does Bunny," asked Hunny, completely unperturbed with the blonde's guy action._

"_It's getting boring here, Tono. Why don't we go in and get over with the meeting faster so we can go with Haruhi to the supermarket," said the twins in a sing-song tone without taking their eyes off from the slightly opened door. _

"_Ah... it's very nice of you but I can manage to buy my groceries on my own," grunted Haruhi impatiently as she was unable to contain her sarcasm that was obviously not gone unnoticed by the twins. _

"_Kaoru, you're not specific enough in your explanation. Listen, Haruhi, what Kaoru meant was that we want to go to the supermarket to _bug_ you as a little treat for ourselves after a long and tiring day like today," chirped Hikaru as though finding Haruhi's annoyance particularly amusing. _

_The corner of Haruhi's mouth twitched once again as she tried and failed badly to suppress her frustration that was mounting even higher by then, "Oh, what a well-thought idea indeed. After all, who will ever think that a mere rest is more than enough for a person after he just had a long and tiring day." Yet much to her displeasure, none of them apparently paid even the slightest attention to what she had just said._

"_It's surely a fun idea to go shopping at peasant market; don't you think so, Takashi? Bunny and I want to try peasant's strawberry cakes." asked Hunny happily as he glanced at his tall cousin._

_Mori nodded at the same time as Tamaki reappeared in front of them again; apparently had founded his cheerfulness upon hearing the word 'peasant.' In the end Haruhi was not able to say anything except slapped her own temple out of exasperation using her free hand that was not carrying the costumes. _

_It was probably because of the very same exasperation that made her forgot the main reason why they were standing outside the 3__rd__ Music Room and went inside instead. She was not even aware of the loud gasp from Tamaki, or Hunny's whispers trying to make her return to where they were, or even the twins frantic attempts to grab her jacket. _

_It was the glare that she received instantly from the moment the Shadow King noticed her unwanted presence inside the room that made her realised that for the very first time Tamaki was not joking about Kyouya's bad mood that day. _

_--_

_**3**__**rd**__** Music Room**_

"_Um... I just collected our costumes from the laundrette, Senpai. I guess I need to put them in the cabinet before they get all wrinkled," said Haruhi almost to nobody in particular as Kyouya has returned his gaze to the laptop before him once again. _

_She had decided that it was too late for her to return to where the rest of the host club members as it would be too troublesome not to mention awkward for her to do that. The only small problem for her was that the cabinet was located right behind Kyouya, which meant that it was not possible for her to put the costumes away without being in such close proximity with the demon king. _

"_So... you are here alone. May I know where is the others?" asked Kyouya, still without leaving his sight from the monitor. He was not even sure why he had to ask the girl when he obviously knew from the loud rackets that were coming from outside the room until the moment Haruhi walked in, that all his friends were standing outside the door, seemingly discussing whether they were brave enough to go in and disturb him or not. _

"_Um..." _

_As Haruhi wondered whether she should tell the truth, she stole a quick glance to the French door. It was proven only to make the current situation even worse for her. Much to her annoyance apparently none of the host club members was peeking through the gaps between the French door anymore. In fact the door was completely closed and judging from the absence of the host club members' ruckus outside, it was also safe to say that none of them was even around anymore. Probably all of them were trying to save their own lives as they did not know what kind of wrath they would get once they disturbed the infamous Shadow King when he was in a dark mood. It was amazing as Haruhi thought how the fear of angered Kyouya was much bigger than the temptation to go to the so-called 'peasant' supermarket even for Tamaki._

"_I guess all of them think that the meeting was cancelled and decided to go home." _

"_I see..." stated Kyouya as he caught a glimpse of Haruhi walked past by him bringing the costumes and stacking them neatly in the cabinet behind him. _

_After arranging all the clothes neatly, Haruhi's eyes caught on a big bucket of fresh white lilies stashed in the dustbin next to the cabinet and took it. _

"_Ah... the girls must have left the flowers behind. They are still fresh why we have to throw them away. It's kind of waste," said Haruhi as she inhaled the scent of the flowers and remembered how her mother used to love white lilies so much. As though she could not stop herself, Haruhi looked at Kyouya for a sign of approval for her to bring them home. _

_Before Haruhi could even digest the meaning behind Kyouya's darker mood that seemed emitting through his body, his menacing voice could be heard even to the tiniest nook and cranny inside the empty 3__rd__ Music Room. _

"_Throw them away. Don't you see that they're already thrown onto the trash bin? Why are you collecting garbage? Is this what I can only assume as a _peasant_'s frugality?"_

_If Haruhi could take a better view at that time, she might have noticed the difference in the way Kyouya spoke or behave that day. However, the words spoken by him snapped her already tired minds after her previous squabbles with the rest of the host club members outside the 3rd Music Room. _

"_What do you mean by '_peasant_'s' frugality, Senpai? Is that a new method you just picked up randomly to hurt others? If that's the case, then you're quite successful, Senpai," stated Haruhi without even realized that she had just dropped the flowers in her arms. _

"_Isn't it what we say to a person who collects unwanted items from other people's garbage bin?" asked Kyouya mercilessly, as though he found an empty satisfaction by hurting Haruhi with his cruel words. _

_He was too angry to take any notice that Haruhi's big amber eyes were slightly teary upon listening to his words as he added, "You can just ask me for money if you want to buy flowers, Haruhi. No need to relive that kind of pitiful act in front of me by taking things that I have thrown them away. I am not one of your customers that need a _plebeian-style_ entertainment."_

"_I do not need your money or anybody else's but thanks for your unnecessary concern about me or my plebeian side anyway, Kyouya-Senpai. The only thing pitiful in here is the fact that I have to tarnish the memory of my mum's favourite flower by talking these kinds of rubbish with you."_

_Kyouya's heart skipped a beat. _

"_Your mum's favourite flower?"_

"_Yes, but probably they are not suitable for your classy lifestyle judging from the fact that you threw them away, Senpai." There was no subtlety in Haruhi's cold reply as she continued distancing herself away from where Kyouya were as though she wanted to be anywhere but near him. _

_However Kyouya's next sentence put her steps to a halt almost instantly. _

"_They're also my mother's favourite flower."_

_Without even taking a glimpse of Kyouya who was standing still in front of his desk, Haruhi stated bluntly, "Well, seeing how badly you treat the flowers even though you clearly know that they are your mother's favourite, it's safe for me to say that she would have been devastated if she sees what you've done right now."_

_Kyouya never took another look at Haruhi who had just slammed the door shut as if she was trying to shift her anger to the innocent object. However, his sight never left the white lilies which now were scattered across the floor in front of him as Haruhi never bothered to clean up the mess. _

"_You're absolutely right, Haruhi. She would have been devastated if she saw me now..."_

_--_

_**Around the same time...**_

_**Ouran High School's Parking Lot**_

"_Are you sure that she will be alright to be left behind with a grumpy Kyou-Chan, Tama-Chan?"_

"_No... I think we really should go back and check. It's my stupidity that caused Mother to be in such a foul mood today."_

"_You absolutely cannot go back in there, Tono. We have saved your life with great difficulties back there," stated the twins as each of them grabbed one of Tamaki's arms to stop him from going back to the 3__rd__ Music Room. _

"_I never asked both of you to prevent me from saving my daughter in the first place. It's very dangerous for her to be left alone with Mother today," shouted Tamaki impatiently._

"_She will be alright, Tono. Besides, there's nothing new for Kyouya-Senpai to be grumpy once in awhile. He's not the Low Blood Pressure Demon King for nothing after all," answered the twins in an identical monotonous tone._

_Tamaki shook his head sadly as he said, "No, it's not alright at all. I should have told her earlier. I shouldn't have left her alone there."_

"_What do you mean, Tama-Chan? I also thought Kyou-Chan was indeed gloomier than usual but we do have one of those bad days." The twins and Mori nodded in approval of what Hunny had just said as the images of Hunny's dark mood whenever he woke up from his naps vividly resurfaced from their minds._

"_Today is Kyouya's mother's death anniversary. It's my mistake to ask him whether I could join him to visit his mother's mausoleum this year. I have only heard about it from my dad last night. I never knew it at all even when we have been friends for so long."_

_There was an apparent sadness in Tamaki's eyes that even made the twins unable to think of any replies._

"_Then it's only best to leave Kyouya-Kun alone to find his solace, if that's what he wants in the first place Tamaki-Kun," replied Mori with his deep and soothing voice. It was very unusual for him to give any verbal replies as he normally only acted as an observant instead of active participant in any kinds of discussions. _

_Yet there was too much truth in his sentence that made even Tamaki stop struggling with the twins in his vain attempts to free himself from their clutches to save Haruhi. _

_--_

_**1 hour earlier...**_

_**3**__**rd**__** Music Room**_

"_Why are you still here, Tamaki? I thought that you have gone with the rest to the launderette?"_

"_Ah... We have cancelled our plan. Apparently Haruhi disliked so much the ideas of us going to the laundrette with her."_

"_How surprising indeed." _

_It's always amazing to have a best friend who did not even flinch even after listening to his heavy sarcasm. Other people would have backed off and maintained a safe distance from him. But of course none of them happened to be Tamaki Suoh. _

"_I think they have decided to tail her secretly instead. I am not very sure on how it goes by now. But let's just ignore them and their antiques, Mother. Besides, it's just children's puberty kicking in I suppose," said Tamaki as he waved his hand as though he was chasing away a particularly persistent fly in front of him before he added, "By the way, Mother..."_

"_Huh?" Kyouya frowned slightly. It was indeed a very rare moment when Tamaki were not in the centre of cahoots together with the twins and Hunny when it came to Haruhi's affairs. He did not even believe that Tamaki had given away the chance of protecting his so-called 'daughter' from the rest of the host club members like what he usually did._

"_I have one request to ask you although I am not very sure how should I put it. I have heard from my dad. About today..."_

_Kyouya stopped typing and looked at his best friend as though it was the very first time he saw him clearly. His glasses were clouded from the afternoon sunlight yet for a moment Tamaki could swear that he saw glints of sadness in those pair of onyx eyes. _

_However, Kyouya's voice was void from any emotions when he spoke to his best friend, "What about today, Tamaki? If you're talking about how we should chase after Haruhi to the launderette then you can go ahead yourself. In fact I suggest for us to skip the meeting today altogether. I feel particularly tired after entertaining the customers today."_

_Tamaki looked bewildered for a second as he heard what Kyouya had just told him. However, before long he managed to get a hold of himself and said, "Ah, hold on, Mother; let me grab something before we go..."_

_Kyouya's heart almost missing a beat as he saw a large bucket of white lilies from behind the door that were carried by his best friend. It was probably because of the fact that Tamaki could not see Kyouya's face properly as he was hidden behind the lilies that made the blonde guy spoke as though he failed to sense the danger that was approaching him._

"_If it is okay with you, I would like to go to your mother's mausoleum together with you today..."_

_As Tamaki passed the flowers to Kyouya, there was one thing he could be sure of: his best friend was definitely far from okay with his idea. _

_-- _to be continued_ --_

A/N: This chapter took much longer for me to write than I have expected. Thanks a lot for your continuous support. Only by clicking the 'go' button next to 'submit review' and tell me what do you think of this story will make me a very... very... happy person.

**To:** **Melodramatic**, **whiteknight**, **CrimsonButterfly**, **Akito Soma-san**, **Cringe**, **larrythestapler**, **I am Telgar**, **Mitchy**, **kon81**, **pulla**, **keith**, **hpnai**, **jaz7**, **wannabeawriter**, **Rangerette**, **Magician April Aries**, **Dark Angel of Pain and Chaos**, **Tsukic**, **Black Firelight**, **the girl in tutu**, **Tis Inevitable**, **Lesychan**, **meh**, **cowgirlkitten2000**, **Ya-Chan**, **Melodramatic Writer**, **waizzz**, **Lady Silverhawk**, **Terry-May**, **monedameow**, **Entwined Heart**, **Xan**, **dealuvsanime**, **Incoherent**, **Star Garden**, **chadick**, **iruka92**, **KyouFan**, **l0ok1nG4b0n2**, **Topaztok**, **Sakura-Sama**, **ichinanahachi**, **wiwionly**, **Snow Charms**, **Kalachuchi**, **Crying Sorceress**, **Kichou**, **bfanatic**, **MxAzingxSpork**, **Dawn's Twilight**, **Xx Tohru xXx Seraphina xX** for all your support in reading this story. I love you all guys!

PS. To CrimsonButterfly, hehehe benar aku orang Indonesia. Saat ini aku bekerja di Singapura dan sebagai fans berat Ouran aku kebetulan aja nemuin website ini. Thanks a lot ya buat ngebaca ceritaku ini. It really means a lot to me!

PPS: I am terribly sorry if some of you found that my plotline and / or the genre I chose for this story is not what you deemed as suitable for Ouran High Host Club. But I guess one of the major reasons why I put this story under the category of drama / romance instead of Comedy was so that at least everybody has been informed beforehand that there will not be much of comedy going on in this story. Yes there are some funny scenes / moments (at least for me hehehe) but those are definitely not the main focus of this story. Nonetheless, I think different kinds of genres written based on one original story will really reflect the Fanfiction's pick up line of "_Unleash Your Imagination_," in which everybody have the freedom to venture out on different kinds of possibilities that could've happened in the artwork (but sadly not and I guess never will, as none of us are, I believe, the author of the original story). Don't you think so too? (LOL, I know it's kinda lame, please bear with me hehehehe).


	13. Twelve

* * *

Disclaimer: Ouran is not mine. The plotline of this story is.

Edited by: Terry-May.

******

* * *

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**Looking at the Perfect Nanny**

-- _**Twelve**_ --

Haruhi's amber eyes widened as though her brain had finally found its function back and digested what she had just done. Yet before she could break off from the kiss, Kyouya had placed his fingers behind her head and stroked her brunette hair gently as he deepened the searing kiss. It did not take a long time before Haruhi let out a stifled moan as she felt Kyouya's tongue brushing over her lips and unconsciously parted them slightly as he slid it into her mouth.

They might have gotten carried away in their newfound passions if they were not stopped by the sound of Hajime's cry, in which brought them almost unwillingly back to the reality.

Both of them broke off from the tight embrace with their faces flushed and their breaths heavy.

There was a moment of awkwardness between them as their hands accidentally met when both of them tried to caress Hajime's raven hair to pacify his cry at the same time. The boy's wail had also made them realised what they did inside the mausoleum, in which successfully made them blush even more and carefully avoid each other's eyes.

For a moment neither of them was trying to fill the uncomfortable silence with any conversation. Although Hajime's cry had already subsided, Kyouya was still caressing his son, as though he was too immersed in his own thoughts to realise it.

No longer could stand with the deafening stillness that came between them, Haruhi glanced sideways at Kyouya. As they were still standing in such close proximity, she could not help but noticing that Kyouya's lips were swollen from the kiss and thinking that hers would not be much different than him. Therefore, before she could stop herself, she could hear herself chuckling softly.

The sound of Haruhi's soft laugh managed to return Kyouya's attention back to her. Yet he was not all that happy to know that she was able to laugh that freely while his mind was still in turmoil, unable to think properly of the next step that he should take after what had just happened between them.

Kyouya raised his eyebrow and failed to conceal the displeasure that appeared in his handsome face. Trust Haruhi and not to mention his own son to ruin the moments that could have been remembered by him as one of the most memorable memories. He should have known that with her personality, it was not all that hard to deduce that she might not take everything as serious as he was.

"I am sorry, Senpai, I don't mean to laugh. It's just that I could not stop myself when I looked at you..." said Haruhi with an apologetic look although it did not give so much impact as she still carried on with her silent laughs when she spoke.

As Kyouya did not give her any responses, Haruhi placed her forefinger at Kyouya's lips gently and added, "You can't scare me off with that kind of look, Kyouya-Senpai. Your pout is just too priceless that I must say it's cute."

"I _never_ pout," grunted Kyouya defensively; his pride was slightly hurt by Haruhi's words.

"That's exactly my point," replied Haruhi as she smiled brightly. Her amber eyes were twinkling magnificently in contrast with the pale colour of her surroundings. As though she was trying to give clue to Kyouya, at that point she withdrew her finger on his lips and touched her own with it.

When Kyouya's eyes flickered to Haruhi's puffy lips, he finally got what she meant and before he could stop it, he laughed.

It was only at that moment, Haruhi could finally see for the very first time Kyouya's flawless face bore the exact same smile as the one portrayed in the painting outside the mausoleum.

--

"That is not funny, Haruhi. How could you use such word on me? Should I remind you once again what I am capable of?" threatened Kyouya, yet the casual smirk that etched on his face when he spoke make him look like he was merely teasing the girl instead.

They were walking past through the garden leading to the main house after Kyouya told her that they had to feed Hajime his morning milk before they started his birthday celebration. The boy himself was fast asleep and rested his head against Kyouya's chest peacefully.

"Yeah, but it's too bad for you since I no longer have any debt or apartment for you to use your tricks to threaten me anymore, Senpai," said Haruhi, sounding a little too happy to come across that thought.

Kyouya's cornered eyes caught Haruhi's expression that made his brows furrow. Yet before long, there was a strange gleam flickering in his eyes as he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "But I can always threaten you take responsibility on what you just did to me by being my girlfriend, Haruhi..."

There was a tinge blush that crept in Haruhi's fair complexion before she managed to stutter, "What... Why... I mean it's not funny to joke around with such thing, Senpai."

Kyouya let out an impatient snort.

"It's rich coming from a person who had the guts to tell me that I pouted."

Haruhi stole a quick glance at the guy beside her. Her mouth felt dry as she stumbled in her own words, "But..."

Kyouya did not look like he was angry, but he was not pleased either when he spoke, "I was not joking around either with what I told you just now, Haruhi."

"But..." All of a sudden Haruhi felt hot and dizzy. Words had also seemed to fail her as she noticed how serious Kyouya was at that moment.

Kyouya shot a calculating look at Haruhi, who did not seem to notice as she was too immensed in her own thoughts.

"Can't I think that you're also interested in me after you kissed me in front of my mother?" Kyouya said quietly with his onyx eyes never left the girl.

"Don't put it that way, Senpai. Don't you feel a bit embarrassed at the very least when you said that?" Haruhi stole a quick glance at her surroundings, as though making sure that they were alone in there.

Kyouya snickered. The girl's reaction was almost always amusing him in a way that nobody else could. Probably it was simply because she was raised to see things from different perspectives than him.

"I do not think that I have done anything to be embarrassed about. But I do wonder to whom you're actually dedicating your embarrassment to, Haruhi?"

Haruhi wanted to wipe off that annoying smirk that shown vividly on Kyouya's flawless face the moment he finished his sentence.

"That's beside my point, Kyouya-Senpai." Haruhi's beautiful face looked flustered when she spoke.

"Ah, I just remember that I have not wrapped Hajime's birthday present. I should do it now or we'll be running late for the party," added Haruhi as she tried to walk away from Kyouya as fast as she could.

Yet sadly, Kyouya was too fast for her as he managed to block her way in almost no time. He grabbed her left wrist in one smooth move with his free hand, completely ignoring Haruhi's flabbergasted look.

"No, you will not go anywhere this time, Haruhi. I have waited too long to play this hide and seek game with you any longer." Kyouya acidly said.

"Who said that I want to play hide and seek with you?" Haruhi raised her eyebrows in surprise, completely missing the subtlety in Kyouya's words.

Kyouya sighed in defeat. He painfully remembered how inexperienced the girl was when it comes to love matters. What had happened when he lost his patience the day before made him realised that he had to adjust his rhythm to Haruhi's when it comes to handle delicate matters like feelings for example.

"Do I need to refresh your memory by repeating what we did inside my mother's mausoleum, Haruhi? Probably you will be able to remember and give me a better answer than that" Kyouya leaned his body forward, as though he was going to kiss her. His hand still held Haruhi's wrist forcefully.

"No... That's not a very good idea. It will only frighten Hajime again, Senpai." Haruhi said tersely as she struggled to free her wrist from Kyouya's tight grip.

For a fracture second, Kyouya looked like he was torn between annoyed and amusement. Yet his voice was as smooth as usual when he whispered, "Then tell me..."

Haruhi had to take a step back as she could feel Kyouya's breath tickling her ear. She could feel her heart fluttered as she stammered, "Tell you what?"

"Tell me now or I will..." Kyouya's face now was only inches away from hers.

Haruhi gulped and her amber eyes widened. The blush on her cheeks were more apparent than before yet she had seemed to lose the strength to break off their eye contacts.

Without thinking twice, the words from her mouth came as surprised even for her.

"Okay... okay... I _think_ I like you, Senpai. Geez, tell me more about the freedom of speech here."

Kyouya could feel his heart beat faster as he heard what Haruhi just said. Yet at the same time he could not help but to doubt the honesty behind those words.

"Sorry, Haruhi. I must say that answer is not good enough for me." As he said that, Kyouya pulled Haruhi closer to him and looked straight at her amber eyes, as though trying to find the real answer from behind them.

"This is one form of harassments, Senpai. How can you force me to say what you want?" Haruhi muttered under her breath but no longer tried to escape from his clutch anymore. She did not even know that he could have such strength especially when the other hand was still carrying Hajime like that.

There was a hint of victory masked carefully under his onyx eyes as Kyouya asked, "And what do you think I want you to say anyway, Haruhi?"

Haruhi's eyes somewhat softened when she replied involuntarily, "That I love you."

The silence that was following Haruhi's sentence was almost unbearable for Kyouya. He looked at Haruhi for a second longer before he hesitatingly asked, "Do you?"

Before Haruhi realised it, she could hear herself saying, "Yes, I do."

Haruhi could not help but feeling annoyed not to mention manipulated when she could feel rather than see Kyouya's lips forming a painfully familiar smirk as the Shadow King kissed her a moment later.

--

"You will grow wrinkles if you frown like that, Haruhi-Chan. Is there anything wrong? You have been sighing all day long since you came," asked Shiori playfully. The class were buzzing with idle conversations here and there as there were no signs that Owahara-Sensei, the lecturer for that particular lesson, would come any moment soon.

"Did I?" answered Haruhi unattentively. Her eyes were staring blankly at the open textbook before her without any real interests.

"What happened? I called your mobile phone but it was inactive all throughout last weekend. I was very worried I almost asked Ootori-San's home number from the Medicine Program."

Haruhi could swear that she might have cracked her neck as she turned her head very fast, away from the textbook she pretended to read all day long, to face her best friend Shiori. It was much to her dismay to realise that she had become so overly sensitive even only by hearing his name being mentioned randomly.

Shiori raised her eyebrows and chuckled, "No need to look all that worked up, Haruhi-Chan. I know that you would not be happy if I did that, so I didn't."

Sometimes Haruhi wished she could be as easygoing as Shiori.

As though remembered something, Haruhi tilted her head and grazing at her friend for a moment before saying, "What do you think love is, Shiori?"

Shiori's brown eyes widened as a sudden understanding hit her. Her face broke into a naughty grin as she asked, "Why do you suddenly ask that, Haruhi-Chan? Don't tell me you..."

"No, it's not me. I am asking for... um... my friend. She's currently very confused with her own feelings and wondered it's got anything to do with... um... love," stammered Haruhi a tad too quickly, cutting off whatever Shiori was trying to say.

There was a tinge of blush appeared on her cheeks as she tried not to avert her gaze from her best friend. It really annoyed the hell out of her that Shiori chose that exact moment to be particularly perceptive while normally she could not even notice the apparent wrath of their lecturers whenever they saw her not paying enough attention during their classes.

There was a little too much of understanding in the way Shiori spoke to Haruhi's displeasure. "Okay... So what, um... has your _friend_ told you?"

Haruhi sighed. If only she had any other female friends, she would have not resorted to ask opinions about things like feelings to a drama queen like Shiori. But she also knew that Shiori had a better understanding on the subject as she had lots of admirers that were not limited to only their faculty. She could have been the perfect female version of Tamaki Suoh no less and nobody would have any doubts about it.

"Well, she suddenly became self-conscious around him. She suspected that there might be some problems with her heart as it beats in irregular patterns lately." Haruhi's frown disappeared in an instant as her eyes gazed through her best friend, as though her mind was wondering somewhere else.

A slight smile appeared on her beautiful face by the time Haruhi continued, "She could not stop thinking about him, to know more about him, and understand him but at the same time she's afraid that she has made a wrong decision..."

There was a tight knot in Haruhi's throat that kept her last sentence left unfinished. She hated herself for hesitating and holding back as she knew that it would hurt Kyouya if he ever learned about it.

She should not have done those at all especially after she told her feelings out loud to him the day before yesterday. Unwillingly or not, she had admitted the true feelings inside her that she never realised it was there all the while. But the more she thought of having a relationship with the former Shadow King, the more depressed she was as a sudden realisation of the complications that would arise from their relationship disturbed her mind.

She should have known that Kyouya had a past. Everybody including herself had their own pasts. Probably she just never really thought about it.

Not when she could help it. Not until now.

That there was no Hajime in her past...

--

It's getting harder for Haruhi to imagine that another woman had existed in Kyouya's life in which she had no knowledge of. Only at that point, she realised how egoistical she had become in such a short span of time. She was ashamed with herself to feel unexplainably threatened by the stranger who brought Hajime, the little boy whom she had grown to love as much as she cared about the father, to the world.

Somewhat that thought made it difficult for her to look straight into Kyouya and Hajime's eyes. And it was easier for her to avoid seeing both of them since then.

Haruhi knew that she must have hurt Kyouya's feeling by making lame excuses about studying for her exams the moment they reached the mansion after they celebrated a quiet birthday party at the vacation house with only the three of them and Tachibana. But Kyouya never stopped her from leaving and merely gave her the impression of his usual aloofness when she left him with Hajime to go to her own room next door.

It was as though he was not surprised with her actions and seemed to expect for it to happen. Even until that moment she could not erase that particular image of him from her mind; the thought of him thinking that she would choose to leave him behind in the end prickling her heart with sore bitterness.

Without Haruhi realising, Shiori studied her expression quietly. The smile faded a little from her face as she sighed. It was just like her best friend to think over almost everything a little too much for her own good.

Shiori's cheerful voice brought Haruhi back to the present. "Well, all I can advise your friend is to just simply follow what her heart tells her. In my experience, our heart knows the best what we really want even when our minds seem to think otherwise."

Shiori rested her chin in her palm as she glanced sideways to the entrance door of the classroom. For a less than a fracture of second, Haruhi could swear that she saw a strange glow manifest in Shiori's face as though her best friend had found something that she had clearly missed it herself.

Haruhi followed her best friend's gaze only to find her heart beat faster than it usually did and her cheeks grow somewhat hotter that it had nothing to do with her having an unknown heart disease or the faulty of the Law Program's heating system.

Because for once she knew those were not the real reasons why her body reacted that way.

It was simply because he was standing there.

With his back rested lazily against the door, Kyouya Ootori looked devastatingly handsome in his untucked white shirt with a loosely knotted tie and a pair of washed up jeans. Haruhi could not help but to think that it always seemed unfair for a person to look that attractive without even trying.

As she was sitting in the third row from the front, Haruhi could see those slight dark circles that were visible underneath Kyouya's onyx eyes. She could hear some of her classmates whispering among themselves about the stranger who for some unknown reasons glared menacingly at anyone who had dared to have eye contacts with him.

Haruhi sighed a little as though trying to brace up herself before she put her open textbook back to her small backpack and stood up from her seat.

As she carried her backpack over her shoulder, Shiori asked; sounding half-amused, half-surprised, "Where are you going, Haruhi-Chan?"

"Well, I will advise my friend to just follow her heart as what you said." Haruhi answered simply as she gave her best friend a sincere smile.

"What about the lesson today then Haruhi-Chan? Owahara-Sensei will be walking in any moment soon," stated Shiori with curiosity illustrated vividly on her beautiful face as her brown eyes following Haruhi's figure walking towards Kyouya.

Shiori thought that she must have been dreaming when she saw Haruhi merely gave a little shrug and wave at her direction as she left with the guy soon after they exchanged a short conversation. The Haruhi she knew all the while would never skip her class for whatever reasons, especially a class as important as Owahara-Sensei's.

But it was not as weird as what she had seen the moment before they left. She could have sworn that, for some unknown reasons, Kyouya smirked at her once he heard whatever Haruhi had said to him.

--

Kyouya merely watched Haruhi stand up from her seat and walk towards his direction as soon as she finished talking with Shiori Oshio whom he had met in his faculty's library a few days back. And just like before, the way the girl spoke and laughed cheerfully at Haruhi were still reminded him of a certain idiotic blonde guy.

He had never met anyone like Tamaki Suoh ever since the day he separated ways with that blonde guy during their graduation day at Ouran and probably never would. It's probably not because he could not, but more like he did not want to.

Therefore, it must have been his brain that went haywire to keep on noticing even the faintest resemblance of his former best friend with a girl no less. A mixture of guilt, regret, and jealousy always resurfaced within him whenever the thought of that guy came up from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Why do you wake up so early today? I thought you don't have any morning classes at all," said Haruhi when she was close enough from where Kyouya stood at the moment.

Kyouya raised his eyebrows questioningly as he shot his usual calculating look at her. There was a hint of amusement in his voice when he spoke, "Are you done with avoiding me, Haruhi?"

Haruhi cursed inwardly as she bit her lower lip. That guy really knew how to hit on the right spot at the most annoying time possible.

"I never..."

Haruhi's sentence was left unfinished as she saw a familiar smirk appear on Kyouya's flawless face. She swore that she would do anything to wipe off that irritating smirk one of these days.

In the end, Haruhi tried to change the direction of their conversation in the most casual manner she could pull off, "Why are you here, Senpai? Owahara-Sensei might have been inside the class for all you know."

Kyouya flinched a bit upon hearing the word '_Senpai_' coming from Haruhi's mouth a bit too conveniently, much for his displeasure, even after she confessed bluntly about her feelings towards him. He would have to talk to her about that, but decided that today was probably not a good time to bring it up.

"Ah... It must have been my _luck_ to be able to go here before your lecturer," replied Kyouya in a dismissive tone.

Haruhi frowned. "Don't tell me that you have purposely arranged for Owahara-Sensei to come to class this late. It's too much even for you, Senpai."

The answer from Haruhi had successfully made Kyouya suppress a sardonic snort. The repetitive mentioning of the word '_Senpai_' had made his mood hit rock bottom. Not to mention the fact that he had to force himself to wake up abnormally early for these past few days hence he was already grumpy as it was. Therefore, he definitely was not in the mood to relive to what extent he had to arrange to be able to meet her normally without having to chase after her or listen to her pathetic excuses so as to avoid meeting him since the day before yesterday.

Kyouya glanced at Haruhi's backpack, clearly looking unhappy by the sight. "Why do you bring your backpack with you, Haruhi? Don't tell me that you are trying to escape from me again?"

Haruhi's eyes seemed brighter by the time Kyouya pointed out at her backpack without noticing his somewhat darkened mood and merely said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I decided to cut class today."

Before Kyouya could ask anything, Haruhi added, "As I was told, sometimes it's good to just follow what your heart told you to do."

Kyouya looked surprised for a second before he concealed it with a fake cough.

After spending a moment longer to observe the girl, Kyouya grunted sceptically in a low voice, "Ah... and I wonder what it might be. An early lunch presumably?"

The corner of Haruhi's mouth twitched a bit upon hearing the heavy sarcasms in Kyouya's words. Yet without hesitation or fear she looked straight at his onyx eyes, inwardly admiring her newfound guts in facing the former Shadow King like that.

"Let's have a date, Senpai."

Kyouya mused silently as he could not help but to notice the mesmerising twinkles in her big amber eyes. He guessed it was not always that bad to be called '_Senpai_' by her even when he was half-expected her to lose some of her formalities towards him by now.

Not when she had to put it that way.

* * *

_**1 year **__**5 months and 22 days before...**_

**_Ouran High School Division Entrance Hall_**

_Kyouya's onyx eyes were staring absentmindedly at the falling petals of the sakura trees that could be found on each side of the empty boulevard leading to the main hall of the High School Division of Ouran Academy. He walked alone in silence and only stopped to read a big banner hung high on the front wall of the hall._

'Ouran High School Division Graduation Ceremony'

_The emptiness that he felt lingering in him had __become a little too familiar for these past few months. He really thought that it was all right with him. He had made his choice, thus he would have to be able to bear all the consequences that came with it. But he guessed he never really thought that the day when everything came to an end would finally come._

_Starting from the day onwards, he was no longer a student of Ouran High School. That realisation alone gave him something like a sense of closure - a bitter ending for him and everything he had fought for. _

_He had lost his battle. _

_There was nothing that he could do anymore, __probably because he was born as an Ootori. But somewhere at the back of his mind he knew that was not the only reason. No, it was not only because of that. _

_Because he knew that he could __not run from his responsibilities as a man. _

_And more importantly; as a human. _

_--_

_Kyouya did not even know why he chose to do what he did at the next moment. As soon as he heard the echoes of footsteps rushing hurriedly towards him and a voice that he could only hear in his dreams lately, before he even realised what he was doing he had hid himself behind one of the pillars. _

"_Wait, Hikaru! Stop dragging me please! I can walk just fine by myself. And for goodness sake, can you stop pushing me, Kaoru? I can't even imagine how we will go in when in fact we are not even invited for the graduation party."Haruhi panted as she tried to shake off Hikaru's clutch on her right wrist and pushed back his twin as well in the process. _

_The twins snickered as they looked at each other with an identical devilish grin._

"_Tono may be useless most of the times but he's still our principal's only son," said Hikaru as he took a sideway glance to his twin, whom had just pulled out a silver coloured envelope with the Ouran Academy's crest shown at its right upper corner._

_Haruhi snorted. She should have known how those rich brats' minds work by now. _

"_Hurry up, Haruhi-Chan. We are already late as it is and we can't afford to wait for your snail-like walk. Tono have gone crazy that he has been calling us practically every five minutes __since this morning," chorused the twins in a monotonous sing-song voice. _

"_We would not be this late if you did no__t force me to wear that outfit," snapped Haruhi. _

_She had firmly declined the twins offer in dressing her up in a frilly and obviously girly outfit __for a farewell gift for Tamaki as that blonde guy would head to Paris that very same evening. She did not really care about her facade as a boy even before the Host Club was disbanded. But as a practical person, she obviously did not want to waste her time to give explanations to everybody in the school once they found out the truth. _

"_Well, we would have not been this late if you chose to agree with us, in which you didn't," chirped the twins, looking amused by the time they saw the annoyance on Haruhi's beautiful face. _

_Kyouya could no longer hear the rest of their conversation as the twins chose to carry Haruhi's by her upper arms and walked through the main door, completely ignoring her annoyed protests. _

_Kyouya could have sworn that he heard his neck was cracking as he turned around a tad too fast when he heard the familiar voice of his best friend calling him from behind._

"_Kyouya..."_

_--_

_There was a moment of awkward silence when neither of Kyouya nor Tamaki started any kinds of conversation. Both of them merely gazed at each other with raw emotions bare on their equally gorgeous faces. _

_After some moment later, Tamaki sighed in defeat. He knew it himself how stubborn Kyouya could be when he wanted to, especially ever since the day he resigned from the Host Club. _

_For the past few months he had been trying to figure out why Kyouya chose to leave them behind to no avail. There was a sharp pang jabbing his heart each time he saw his best friend sitting alone at the windowsill inside their class__ peering through the glass panel to see a certain person enjoying the peasant picnic with him and the twins. Haruhi Fujioka. _

_Tamaki might have been an ignorant but he was not an idiot. He did not know starting from when he realised his feelings towards the girl. But when he did, the very same realisation had also revealed something that he would have chosen not to know until the end. _

_That Kyouya also fell for the same girl as he did. _

_Probably that was the reason why he did not choose to chase him or beg him to return to the Host Club and not because he knew that once Kyouya made a decision, nobody but him could change it. He was too afraid that Haruhi might have chosen his best friend over him._

_Probably that was the reason why he chose to have lunch picnics outside his classroom every single day and not because he wanted him to miss them enough to come back to them. But it must have been because he accidentally saw the expression on his best friend's face when he kissed her. Therefore, he had to seek for a reassurance that Kyouya had let her go for good. For whatever reasons they were, he no longer wanted to know. _

_Probably those things were the reasons why he chose to go to Paris as soon as possible. _

_He wa__s not worthy for her. _

_And most of all__, he was not worthy to call himself as Kyouya Ootori's best friend. _

_But as Tamaki saw the same expression reappear on his best friend's face when he unintentionally saw him hiding behind the pillar, he knew that there were things that he could not let go that easily. _

_Like Haruhi and Kyouya for example. _

_If they had to fall for the same girl so be it. He would not give Haruhi up no matter what; he would always love her in a way only he could do it._

_If they had to fight over the same girl so be__ it. He would not want himself to end up living in regrets. And he would ensure that his best friend would do the same. _

_--_

"_Aren't you going in, Kyouya? The ceremony will start any time soon," said Tamaki as he walked towards the raven-haired guy. _

_Kyouya could not help but to notice the absence of the blonde guy's stupid smile and felt as though sharp needles were prickling his heart because of it. Other than that, he disliked the fact that he did not know how much that guy had witnessed when he was not aware of his presence. And it troubled him more as he knew that it was impossible for him to seek for a confirmation of it with the said person. _

_Kyouya sent a calculating look at the blonde guy as he pushed his glasses to the brim of his nose. __There was no warmth in his voice when he spoke, "Then why aren't you going in? I remember like it's only yesterday that you of all people would like this kind of event the most, Tamaki."_

_Tamaki's violet eyes were clouded with unspoken sadness as he said, __"I'm going to Paris this evening, Kyouya."_

_Kyouya's onyx eyes were veiled under his bangs as he spoke acidly, __"So I heard." _

"_What do you think if I confess my love to her today, Kyouya?" asked Tamaki quietly. He gazed at his best friend as though searching for some hidden answers._

_Kyouya looked at Tamaki without him even aware of that his own face had gone slightly paler. There was an edge in his voice when he said, "I never knew that you are capable to limit your love to only one person. Can you enlighten me as to whom the lucky person is, Tamaki?"_

_Tamaki gave a weak smile as he noticed Kyouya's hardened jaw__ by the time he finished his sentence. _

"_I think you know just fine__ whom I was referring to, Kyouya." _

_Kyouya did not give any signs that he understood what Tamaki meant and merely concealed his feelings under his emotionless pretences._

"_What about you? Will you really be contented looking at her from behind the wall like just now?" There was no sarcasm __hinted in Tamaki's words as he looked at his best friend with great concerns through his purple coloured eyes. _

_It was exactly because of those kind of sincerity and brutal honesty that made Kyouya unable to __think of any cynical replies. _

_After vainly hoping for an answer that never came, Tamaki added, __"Is that the reason why you chose to abandon our club? Because you're afraid that you'd hurt me if I ever find out that you also like her?"_

_Kyouya let out a sarcastic snort. It was so like Tamaki after all to think of such a childish not to mention simplistic reasoning. _

"_What makes you say that I like her, Tamaki?"_

"_Then can you say that you don't?" Tamaki looked at his best friend intently, as though trying to decipher the truth behind Kyouya's indifference manner. _

_It disturbed Tamaki more when he sensed a cruel honesty in what Kyouya said next, even when the guy __still chose to avoid answering his question._

"_No matter what my answer is, the truth remains the same__, Tamaki. Neither of us will be with her anymore starting from today onwards."_

_There were frowns in Tamaki's handsome face when he said, __"I may not be with her all the time like before, but it does not mean that I will stop loving her. I will love her as much or even more than before. There are no such rules that forbid a person to love somebody just because he's no longer around." _

_For a second Tamaki could see Kyouya's trademark smirk linger on his flawless face. But it disappeared as quickly as it appeared as he replied sarcastically, "Ah... Of course, how can I ignorantly forget about you and your naïveté in dealing with love issues?"_

"_You may continue calling me naive or stupid for all I care. At least I am not a coward unlike you, Kyouya," said Tamaki with determination illustrated vividly on his handsome face. _

_Kyouya was stunned. Was it of his love towards Haruhi that made the blonde guy daringly confront him with such unusual harshness? _

_Kyouya felt his mouth dry suddenly as he listened to what his best friend said next. _

"_You only have two options left. It's either you cease your feelings towards her or fight to win her heart - fight for whatever things that make you hesitate to face your own feelings. Just stop masking everything behind that feigned indifference of yours, Kyouya."_

_Tamaki's words only made his heart felt sore and bitter at the same time. If only he could do those things he said, he would have done it long time ago._

"_Why do I have to fight when I know I will end up losing, Tamaki? You know that I never do unprofitable bus-" _

_Before Kyouya could finish his sentence, Tamaki __had hit him straight on his face. The impact of the hit was quite strong as the corner of Kyouya's lips was bleeding and swollen while his cheek was reddish almost in an instant. _

_Tamaki did not even notice __that he had bruised his own knuckles in the process. His face was contorted with rage and his voice was shaky as though he was restraining himself from yelling, "Then stop looking at her with that kind of longing and hurt written all over your face, Kyouya. Stop searching for her the minute she's out of your sight or out of your reach. Stop whatever you're doing altogether as long as they are concerning her. Because you know clearly that the person who'll end up hurt is her." _

_It did not take much of his already thinning patience to make Kyouya snap. Before he could even stop himself, he hit Tamaki back straight at his face with the same force as the one that guy used on him a moment before. As a result, the blonde guy almost landed on the ground had he not moved quick enough to support his falling body with his hands._

_The blonde guy spat __the blood from his mouth on the lawn and wiped his lips impatiently before saying, "Why does admitting the truth have to be that difficult for you, Kyouya?" _

_Tamaki grabbed the collar of Kyouya's black tuxedo and shook him hard, as though trying to inject some senses to him. _

"_Who are you to judge me? How do you possibly know what I am going through to daringly say such crap in front of me?" bellowed Kyouya with an equal anger on his voice. He pushed the blonde away from him harshly. _

"_Because when you truly love someone, you shouldn't have given up without even trying. Not before you have given all your best shot, Kyouya. At least the Kyouya I knew would never submit himself to his fate that easily."__ Tamaki said after he looked at his best friend for a second longer before walking away from him. There was an apparent sadness mixed with hurt evident on his figure as he chose to leave his used to be the closest friend he had behind. _

_He did not even bother to wait for Kyouya to give him any answers and merely continued walking without taking a single glance at the former Shadow King. _

_--_

_As soon as Tamaki was out of sight, Kyouya __lay down with his back facing the wet grass of the main hall's garden and covered his onyx eyes with the back of his uninjured palm. A gentle sigh escaped from his mouth as he touched the corner of his bleeding lips with his other hand. He could feel his face still throbbing with pain yet a slight smile was helplessly shown on his bruised face._

_It was the first time in countless of days that he was able to crack a smile. It was too much of an irony that it also happened to be the last day for him to see that idiotic person in person. It was precisely because of that blonde guy's stupid persistence that he was finally able to see what he really wanted in the first place. _

_For once he wanted to fight __a battle not for anyone else but himself. _

_Even if that meant he had to shred away his humanity in pieces. _

_Even if that meant he had to seal a deal with the devil._

_He wanted her. _

_And it was all what really mattered to him. _

_--_

_Kyouya was still lying on the ground when he let a soft chuckle escape from his mouth as he heard familiar voices exchanging conversation from not a very far distance from where he was._

"_Where were you all along, Tono? We've been searching high and low for you inside the hall," screeched the twins, sounded extremely pissed off. _

"_What's the use of us being in here on your graduation ceremony when you're not even around in the process? And just to let you know, the Chairman wants to see you, Senpai," stated Haruhi in almost an equally annoyed tone as the twins. _

_Kyouya could hear Tamaki stupidly ask, __"Why?"_

_Haruhi sighed in desperation. __"I fail to think of any logical reasons, Senpai. But I bet it wouldn't be because of your absence during the ceremony or that you're going to Paris in couple of hours from now." _

_The twins snickered._

_Tamaki sho__ok his head sadly as he wriggled his forefinger in front of Haruhi when he said, "How can you be so cruel to your daddy when he's going away and will not be able to see you in months or even years?"_

"_It's absolutely fine with me, Tamaki-Senpai. You have installed a video phone in my flat last month without even asking for my approval first and have been giving me nonstop trials so as to make sure that I am able to operate it since then. It'd be hard for me to think that you're away at all, don't you think?" said Haruhi dismissively._

_She ignored both Tamaki's sobs as she hit him with her blunt word and the twins' frantic laughs. There was a slight concern on Haruhi's voice when she added, "What happened with your face? And is that blood on your lips, Senpai?"_

"_He must have fallen somewhere out of excitement for today's event," Kaoru said as he leaned forward to see Tamaki's injuries from a closer distance while Hikaru snickered and mimicked his twin's action._

"_No, I did not fall," replied Tamaki defensively._

_Haruhi and the twins raised their eyebrows sceptically. _

"_It's... um... It's just not my luck to encounter a very angry male bee. It bit me for no reason at all," stammered Tamaki. He completely avoided Haruhi's and the twins' suspicious glares when he spoke. _

"_Yeah... I wonder why we never even thought of that possibility," answered Haruhi incredulously as she saw the blonde guy blush madly. _

_Tamaki touched his bruised cheek__ unconsciously as he squeaked, "You should believe in me, Haruhi-Chan! I even suspected that the bee must have had some raging hormones' issues..." _

"_Well, next time try to find a better lie. For starters, I believe human kind has yet to find a bee that can bite, Senpai. It only stings," answered Haruhi placidly in between the twins' laughs. _

_--_

_**Couple of hours later...**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Study Room**_

"_What happened to you, Ootori-Sama?"__ asked Tachibana as he saw Kyouya's bleeding lips and his bruised cheek._

"_It'__s not that big deal, Tachibana but thanks for your concern," said Kyouya disinterestedly. _

"_But don't you want to find who did this to you, Ootori-Sama? I can send a few of my men to investigate and give proper lesso__ns to whoever tries to hurt you," replied Tachibana in a worried tone. _

_However __Tachibana was more than surprised when he saw the smirk on Kyouya's bruised face, although it was nothing as compared to listening to what Kyouya said next. _

"_I am fine, Tachibana, I'd just think of it as being stung by a very moronic bee."_

_But Tachibana knew better than to push the same topic to Kyouya whom had given a sense of finality in his tone when he spoke just now. He gave his master a polite bow and waited for his order that was sure to come. _

_For a fracture second, Kyouya stared at Tachibana quietly as though contemplating with himself on what he would say next. _

"_I called you because I have two important matters that I need you to __deal with quietly. Do not let anyone including my father to ever find out what you're doing. Understand?"_

_Tachibana merely nodded._

"_I need you to put 24-hour surveillances on two people. The first is to Haruhi Fujioka." Kyouya pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose as he looked at his most trusted man intently. _

_Tachibana's eyes widened by the time he heard Kyouya's next sentence._

"_And second, to__ Yutaka Nakashima."_

_-__- to be continued --_

A/N: Thank you all for your generous support. It's because of that I am able to write this chapter much faster than my previous ones. Please do not forget to spare me with your thoughts and opinions on the story so far.

**Beta's Note:** So I make my first appearance. I find KHF-Chan's stories very much filled with emotion and descriptive scenes. (Did I make sense?). I am honored to be able to beta such a work of art (nervous laugh). Do you guys sense a climax already? It seems like one conflict has been solved. Ehehe

**Millions of thanks to you who have read and given me your reviews:**

To: **SnowCharms**, **wiwionly**, **G0tH**, **sonata hirano**, **sadness & sober**, **waizzz**, **Ran Fujiwara**, **Melodramatic Writer**, **MOE GAL!**, **Xan**, **Kalachuchi**, **kon**, **Ya-Chan**, **DevilHeart13**, **Sakura-Sama**, **klaire-chan**, **dirtygirl42**, **Incoherent**, **m0m2b**, **strawberry explosion**, **Melodramatic**, **BlackDove of Blessings**, **Topaztok**, **iruka92**, **Terry-May**, **Entwined Heart**, **bfanatic**, **mitchy**, **cowgirlkitten2000**, **fantine89**, **RandomFun**, and **ecyoj06**.

_**Special Thanks to**__ Terry-May for editing this chapter and to kon for your wonderful support. I love you guys!!_


	14. Thirteen

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran.

**Looking for the Perfect Nanny**

-- **Thirteen** --

Kyouya Ootori coughed louder than what he had actually intended. It was surely not because he was sick or so - although the autumn wind was blowing quite colder than usual; giving away the unspoken sign that winter would come soon. It must have been his way to conceal his current embarrassment. He just had no time at the moment to give it a second thought. One thing as clear as crystal for him now was that he should have at least predicted beforehand that Haruhi's idea of dating would never be the same with what he would have thought of. Or at least what he thought he wanted before he half-heartedly agreed with Haruhi that since the dating idea was coming from her, he would have to let it done her way.

At the moment Kyouya was standing in front of an unfamiliar bus driver, giving a sour smile at him as he attempted to scan his credit card onto the automatic card reader for the umpteenth time. He was pretty sure that Haruhi had done the exact same thing when she entered the bus. He could only curse his luck as he forgot to ask Haruhi the right procedure to take the bus when they were still at the bus stop. He just never imagined that riding a bus could be that complicated. But who on earth would _ever_ think that the girl would be so irresponsible and leave him behind just like that?

As the bus was quite full, Kyouya did not even have the chance to stop Haruhi from leaving the bus entrance as soon as she tapped her card onto the card reader. He could only see the top of her brunette hair bob in and out of the crowd before she was completely out of sight.

It was not long after Kyouya finished rummaging all cards he had inside his wallet that he was quite certain that the bus driver was mad at him. That guy must have been thinking that he was a teenager with suspected ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder - syndrome. He could not really blame him for thinking that way, he would have thought the same way if he was him. Or else why would a normal person stall a bus for so long? But it was _not _like he had other options. He had tried tapping almost all credit cards he had onto the machine, but it seemed like the machine had failed to recognise any of them.

At first, the driver only glanced at him disinterestedly when he tried to tap his second card onto the machine. Then his expression quickly changed into half-amused, half-annoyed as he tried his fifth or sixth card. And now, judging from the way the guy was frowning coldly at him, which he did not need to be a genius to deduce, the driver was pissed as hell at him and obviously, his odd behaviour.

It was hard to decide who was angrier at that point of time, Kyouya or the bus driver. That was the first time ever anybody aside from his own family dared to frown at him that blatantly. And if Kyouya did not recall that somewhere inside the bus there was Haruhi Fujioka, probably he would have already called Tachibana to prepare a hostile buyout of the bus company. With that he would fire this pathetic looking driver immediately and made certain that this guy would never be able to get any other job in the country. Before he could really make use of any of his ideas, Kyouya's train of thoughts were disrupted when the hoarse voice of the driver could be heard booming inside the bus.

"Hey, Kid, don't try acting funny with me because you can be sure that I am _not_ laughing at all here. You want to take a ride on this bus or should I _wait_ for another hour or two to wait for you until you can find the right card?"

By then, all the nonsensical chatters had gone only to be replaced with a deafening silence. To add on Kyouya's annoyance further, he noticed that apparently every pair of eyes inside the bus was boring at his direction with shameless curiousity – thanks to that unnecessary announcement made by the grumpy driver.

Kyouya scowled. For a fraction of second he looked pained before grunting in a low voice, "I will not be bothered taking all my cards if I don't intend to take the bus, will I? I just need to know which card this machine accepts. It seems like it rejects all mine."

The bus driver snorted loudly.

"Don't joke around, Kid. If you don't have the card then you can just pay it in _cash_. Don't waste our time waiting for you and your nonexistent card."

Kyouya felt extremely dense after listening to what the driver had just said. How could he possibly forget that he could always pay the stupid fare in cash? He disregarded completely the fact that it might have been simply due to the fact that he never took any kinds of public transports in his entire life before that day. He pulled out a bank note from his wallet and gave it to the driver without further ado. Sadly, he failed to notice that the driver's eyes were almost popped out of their sockets as soon as Kyouya passed him the money.

As a result, Kyouya did not even have the chance to take more than two steps away to escape from the scene before the driver's booming voice could be heard once again.

"What are you trying to pull off now, huh? Why are you giving me this?"

There was nothing more annoying for Kyouya than to realise that by then, some older people inside the bus were starting to shake their heads in apparent disagreement with his action, while the younger ones were smirking as if they found what he had just done at the moment to be particularly funny.

"That's for my fare. You said it yourself just now that I could pay it in cash." Kyouya said while still using the same low voice, as though he did not want anyone else beside the driver to hear what he just said.

"For cash payment, we only accept the exact amount of the fare. This is a 10,000 Yen bank note, Kid." The driver snapped as he fanned Kyouya's new 10,000 Yen bank note right in front of his nose.

"So? You can keep the change for your tips I suppose," Kyouya raised his eyebrows, obviously looking more impatient than ever.

Before either Kyouya or the bus driver could exchange even more dangerous remarks, a girl's voice could be heard amidst the soft whispers emitted from the people witnessing the scene.

"Is everything okay, Kyouya-Senpai?" Kyouya turned his head in the direction of the voice with an apparent relief washed over his handsome face. He had never felt that lightened up to see Haruhi in his entire life before.

"Miss, you have to _teach_ your boyfriend some basic manners. He surely can use them good."

Haruhi looked at the bus driver with an apparent astonishment shown on her face before glancing at Kyouya questioningly. Yet before Kyouya could give any sorts of explanations, the bus driver had taken over his role by adding his previous sentences with, "He tried to pay me with this 10,000 Yen bank note after trying to tap all sorts of cards he has inside his wallet onto the card reader. He must have thought it might make a good joke or something."

Haruhi gaped upon listening to what the bus driver had said. She had completely forgotten that for Kyouya, taking a public transport might be a totally new experience for him.

Before Kyouya could say anything to defend himself, Haruhi grabbed his arm and forced him to bow low at the bus driver and the rest of the passengers to show sincere apologies.

"I am so sorry. He's not used to take bus before, that's why he does not know how to make the payment," told Haruhi to the bus driver while inserting the right amount of coins onto the machine's coin slot.

The bus driver shook his head reproachfully and passed back the bank note to Haruhi without even took another glance at Kyouya.

However, much to Kyouya's displeasure, he still could hear the bus driver mutter loudly to himself, "To think that there is still a person who does _not_ know how to pay a bus fare. She must have been kidding with me. That kid does not even look like a _tourist_. I really feel pity for his girlfriend. There was nothing more unlucky than to have that kind of guy as a boyfriend."

--

"Stop laughing. It is not funny, Haruhi. Besides, it's happened all because of _your_ fault. How could you leave me behind just like that? You should have known that it's bound to happen since I never took any bus before," whispered Kyouya in Haruhi's ear. He did not need additional audiences to listen to their conversation. Both of them had to stand all the way since there were no more seats available inside the bus together with many other passengers.

Although the rest of the passengers were no longer paying much attention to him, Kyouya disliked the fact that some girls were giggling at him. It was too horrifying for him to notice that 2 of them even belonged to the same class as him. He could have painfully imagined what kind of wild rumours would be floating around his faculty around the same time tomorrow. And to know that Haruhi was also laughing at him – probably for the very _same_ reason why those girls were giggling while glancing at him - did not help much, if not made it worse.

"I am so sorry, Senpai. It's just that it's so funny to see you losing your cool side once in a while. I just can't stop myself from laughing at you. Sorry," said Haruhi in between her laughs. It was one of those times when Kyouya wondered why he could never stay angry at Haruhi for long. He was pretty sure with himself that he could never be that forgiving if it was for any other girls.

Kyouya muttered darkly some undecipherable words to himself. Without Haruhi even aware of, there was a strange glint appeared in Kyouya's onyx eyes even it was only for less than a faction of second before he seemed to gain his aloof self back.

Devoid of showing any kinds of emotions, Kyouya simply replied, "I'll _kiss_ you then. I bet it will _help_ you to stop laughing."

It went just like what Kyouya had expected beforehand. Haruhi went silent almost immediately. Her amber eyes widened in surprise and looked completely thunderstruck upon listening to what Kyouya had just said.

"No, you would never dare to do that. Besides, it is against the law," denied Haruhi winningly as she emphasised her latter sentence – feeling somewhat secured, at least for a second. Yet when she looked at Kyouya's onyx eyes, she noticed that they were somewhat darker than usual, which had somewhat managed to make her feel uncomfortable almost instantly. There were too much of unspoken words and unapproachable aura existed in those pair of eyes.

All along Haruhi could never differentiate the occasions where Kyouya was only pulling her legs or when he was serious – thanks to his lack of humorous traits. It was probably the reason why she could not help but to find Kyouya a tad too intimidating every now and then.

Haruhi tried her best to look calm although her mind was anything but. There was no way Kyouya Ootori would risk himself for another session of public embarrassment. Or would he dare to do that? She could not help but to have a lingering doubt. He could not have possibly want to do that kind of lovey-dovey kind of action in front of the public – not when he clearly knew that public affection was supposed to be forbidden in the country.

As Haruhi was too busy entertaining her own thoughts, she was completely unaware that Kyouya was looking at her intently – completely disregarded the fact that they were not the only people existed inside the bus. There was a smirk materialized from Kyouya's handsome face by the time he saw Haruhi bit her lower lip unknowingly.

"Oh, don't tell me that you are trying to challenge me on what I dare or dare not do to you, Haruhi?" As Kyouya spoke, his lips were hovering and threateningly close to come in contact with Haruhi's lips. Caught by surprise, Haruhi tilted her head sideways which made Kyouya's lips to land on her cheek instead. However that action was more than enough for Haruhi to feel her face was burning hot with embarrassment all of a sudden. She could catch glimpses of the other passengers smiling or shaking their heads disapprovingly upon witnessing the entire scene shown openly in front of them.

"This is our stop. Let's go, Senpai," hurried Haruhi while clutching Kyouya's arm. She did not even dare to take a good look at her surrounding before stepping out of the bus. And much to her annoyance, by then it was Kyouya's turn to laugh upon looking at her reaction.

--

"Hey, don't walk too fast, Haruhi. I might end up losing you _again_," chided Kyouya impatiently as he tried to walk faster to catch up with Haruhi. The girl was almost literally running away from him as soon as both of them left the bus stop. He did not realise till then that Haruhi was always so shy when it came to accepting his affections. It was not because she disliked what he did. At least that part he could be sure of. The thought of that was enough to bring back the smile on his handsome face.

Haruhi stopped her steps almost instantly which made Kyouya almost knocked her back if he did not stop at the right moment.

"Don't just stop anywhere you feel like, Haruhi. It's so dangerous. Do you know that I might have bumped into you because of that?" said Kyouya, almost sounded like a father reproaching his naughty little daughter.

Haruhi turned around to face Kyouya. Her cheeks were still blushing – probably they were due to the earlier embarrassment or simply because of the cold weather – Kyouya could not make up his mind to decide.

"Don't _ever _do that kind of childish action again, Kyouya. I will show you the real meaning of _dangerous_ if you dare to do it one more time. I really mean it this time," said Haruhi threateningly. She even jabbed her forefinger onto Kyouya's chest to try getting her point across. Therefore Haruhi looked even more flabbergasted to know that not only Kyouya did not get her message right, the guy was even laughing unabashedly as soon as he heard whatever she had just said.

Realising that Haruhi was frowning at him, Kyouya's smile was even more evident when he merely replied, "No, I have to do it _more often_ I guess. I am quite satisfied with the result it has shown so far."

"What are you..." Haruhi's sentence was cut off short as Kyouya decided to interject her at that point.

"Because of what I did to you earlier apparently has made you angry enough to call me by my name. No Senpai, no Ootori. It's just Kyouya. I have to say that I am simply pleased with myself when I heard that. Is that so wrong, Haruhi?"

For once that day Haruhi was left speechless. How could she stay mad at him when he had to tell her that unashamedly? That was so un-Kyoya like. If she had to say it, it was kind of sweet not to mention... _cute_.

Haruhi was no longer frowning when she opened her mouth again to say, "_Stupid_. All you have to do is ask if you want me to call you by your name, _Kyou-ya_..."

There were smiles on their both equally gorgeous faces as Haruhi intertwined her fingers with Kyouya before they went inside the mall.

--

"Enlighten me _again_ on why we are here today of all places, Haruhi?" Kyouya did not even bother to conceal his impatience as he spoke. There were far too many people inside the mall for his taste which successfully made him felt somewhat lightheaded. It must have been the most crowded mall he had ever been in his entire life. The only time he had ever visited a so-called peasant mall was when Tamaki had his one too many whimsical action that brought him there as he was still half-asleep. Even then he painfully recalled that the place had not been as crowded as this.

"Ah. I heard from some of my classmates that this mall has the biggest Bussanten for the year-end festival. There are supposed to be some unique stalls and look, they even have gypsy booths. I thought you might be interested," answered Haruhi with a sincere smile plastered on her beautiful face. She tapped the brochure on her hand with her forefinger, pointing at some pictures of the booths shown on the catalogue she took from the mall's main entrance.

Kyouya tried to hide his snort as hard as he could when he spoke curtly, "What on earth exactly that makes you think I would feel excited to visit a bunch of fake gypsies, if I may know, Haruhi?"

"Ah... that... I am quite unsure on what type of things you would actually like to see or do during dates like this. It's surely uncommon for us to see gypsy booths so I reckon we can just go and take a look," said Haruhi while she was busily tiptoeing on her feet to take a good look on what was in front of them.

As she noticed the obvious tart look on Kyouya's face, she quickly added, "But if you don't feel like going there, we can always enjoy different types of food here. I mean even the Shadow King _has_ to eat lunch, right?"

Kyouya sighed in defeat at last. It was a waste of time to argue with Haruhi especially when it came to food. Therefore before Kyouya knew it, he had let himself being dragged to the nearest convenient store for Haruhi to buy them some soft drinks.

"We can just buy the drink in the bazaar itself, Haruhi. Why do we have to bother buying them from the convenient store?" asked Kyouya as they came to a stop in front of a convenient store. Haruhi did not reply him straight, instead she went in and leaving Kyouya standing all alone in front of the store.

Before long, Haruhi came back bringing a small plastic bag containing their drinks. "It is always cheaper to buy them in..." Haruhi did not have the chance to finish her sentence as her eyes were stumbled upon what Kyouya was busily staring at the moment.

On almost every major newspaper and magazine, there were pictures of Yoshio Ootori all seemingly taken from the same exact occasion. It looked like he was in an opening ceremony of some sorts. Only by taking a quick look, Haruhi could read from one of the newspapers on the topmost rack the headline of the main article on the first page:

_Ootori Empire Donates a New Hospital for Tokyo University_

Before Haruhi could see the rest of the article, she realised that Kyouya was walking away from her looking completely distracted upon reading the news.

"Hey, earth to Kyouya, aren't you forgetting something?" said Haruhi once she caught up with Kyouya. She was almost breathless from running to chase the guy while carrying their drinks not to mention her backpack that was not exactly light in weight. Blame it to Kyouya and his long strides.

Kyouya looked surprise for a moment when he heard what Haruhi just said before he replied her with a mere, "_Huh_?"

At that exact time, Haruhi noticed that there was a slight crease appeared on Kyouya's forehead as though he was busily thinking and not really listening to whatever she had just said.

"Go figure," Haruhi sighed bitterly before she continued with her sentence, "You were walking all by yourself and leaving me behind at the convenient store just now, remember?"

As though Kyouya had just found his attention back, he spoke apologetically, "Ah... sorry. You have got the drinks already? Let's go then."

Haruhi bit her lips as though contemplating whatever she wanted to say before she opened her mouth once again, "Is everything all right? I saw you reading the article about your dad and suddenly you act all weird like this."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Haruhi winced involuntarily- all prepared to be scolded by Kyouya like last time she talked about Yoshio in front of him. However Kyouya was not answering her and merely looking at nothing in particular as he continued walking away.

Haruhi hesitated for a moment before she walked side by side with Kyouya. She spoke quietly as though she was not sure whether she should say what was on her mind or not.

"I just noticed that you have _never_ talked to me about becoming the heir of Ootori Empire anymore, Kyouya. It is still your _greatest _ambition in life, right?"

Kyouya ceased his steps almost instantly when he heard what Haruhi just said. His face looked impassive as he replied brusquely, "Probably. I am not very sure about that."

Haruhi frowned upon listening to Kyouya's curt not to mention ambiguous reply. Something felt amiss although she could not pinpoint the exact reason why. However, before she could interrogate the guy further, somebody had lightly tapped on her shoulder.

--

Much to Haruhi's surprise, standing behind her an old lady that could easily pass her late grandmother's age.

Haruhi bowed down a bit to be on the same height as the lady when she spoke politely, "How may I help you, Obaachan? Are you looking for somebody?"

The old lady was completely ignoring her questions and merely said, "Do you want me to read your fate for you, My Dear?"

Kyouya who had just witnessed the whole thing beside Haruhi let out a sarcastic snort. He grabbed Haruhi's arm while he growled, "Let's go, Haruhi. It is obvious that she wants to cheat on you."

It was Kyouya's turn to feel bewildered as he listened to what the old lady said a second later.

"You can _never _force your will against fate, My Boy. Both of you are just _not_ meant for each other. It does not matter how hard and persistent you try to defeat your fate. You have to be able to accept that fact or she may end up having a miserable life because of you."

"What does _that_ supposed to mean, Obaasan?" Kyouya almost failed to keep his temper in check upon listening to what the old lady had just said.

Before Kyouya could do something harmful towards the old lady, Haruhi grabbed his arm to try to stop his apparent hostility and shook her head quietly. Although she could not help but to feel more than a bit shock at what the old lady had just told Kyouya, it was inappropriate for him to verbally abuse an elderly like her.

However, much to Kyouya's annoyance, the old lady did not seem to feel intimidated by him or any of his words even for the slightest and merely carried on talking to Haruhi as though there was no interruption coming from him a moment before that.

"What has been done can _never _be undone. He'll never be yours as he has already tied his fate with another person long before he even met you, My Dear. Your destiny supposes to be the one who has given up on you for your sake. Find him and you will discover your true happiness."

The old lady tapped Haruhi's shoulder gently before she turned her attention to Kyouya. There was something much like a sincere sympathy lingered in her dark coloured eyes as though they were trying to tell him the unspoken words of empty consolation.

At that point of time, Kyouya could feel that his heart had just missed a beat.

* * *

_**1 year 4 months 5 days before...**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Study Room **_

"_Are these _all _the information we got so far, Tachibana?" asked Kyouya as he pushed back his glasses to the brink of his nose. _

_Tachibana bowed before he answered, "Yes. Those were the results from our investigation on Nakashima Corp and Yutaka Nakashima-San, Ootori-Sama. We are waiting for further instruction from you before we can carry on with our next plan."_

"_Who is this woman with him? Why were there so many pictures of her together with him? I remember she's not Reina's mother."_

"_No, you are mistaken for that, Ootori-Sama. I am afraid she is Nakashima-Sama's real mother - her biological mother, to be exact."_

--

_**One week later**__**...**_

_**Nakashima Corp – CEO's Office**_

"_So what are you trying to say now, Ootori-Kun? You did not even _bother_ to show up on your engagement day with my daughter. Why do you think I will listen to whatever you are going to say today?"_

"_Ah. I will try to make sure that whatever I am going to say today is _worth_ your time, Nakashima-San," answered Kyouya politely. There was no sarcasm hinted on his tone and his expression was unreadable. _

_Kyouya did not trouble himself to wait for an answer he knew might never come. He merely added lightly, "It is about Reiko. Reiko Yamashita – Reina's biological mother. In other word: your lover."_

_There was no mistake that Kyouya got all the attentions he wanted from Yutaka as soon as he finished his sentence. From the corner of his eyes he could see that the older guy was scanning right through him. It was as though Yutaka was trying to decipher how much and how far he had found out about Reiko Yamashita and her relationship with him. _

"_I would like to offer you a proposal," said Kyouya again, completely unperturbed with the lack of responses he got from the older guy. _

_There was no hesitation in Kyouya's voice when he continued, "I would__ like to make a request to cancel my engagement with your daughter. It should be done _without_ affecting our previous plan to establish a partnership between Ootori Empire and Nakashima Corp. On the other hand, I will let you _have _my words that your daughter will _never _find out any of this."_

_There was a menacing silence when both of them were only staring at eac__h other without saying anything. "I will take care of the unborn child, Nakashima-San. That child is _an Ootori_, I will make sure that he or she will _only _get the best that the world can offer to him or her," added Kyouya without breaking his eye contact with Yutaka. _

_Yutaka seemed more than just agitated by the time he__ finally opened his mouth to say, "Just like your dad, you _are_ an arrogant bastard, Kyouya Ootori. How can you be so sure that I will agree on your terms? It is my daughter's happiness that you are talking about here. How can you be so irresponsible and heartless towards her?"_

_Kyouya did not provide any reply to what Yutaka had just said to him__. He merely looked at Yutaka who brought every inch of resemblances with his daughter whom he had grown to loathe so much. _

_Kyouya stood up from his seat and bowed low. As he reached the door, he turned around and spoke to Yutaka for the last time that day, "I will wait for your answer, Nakashima-San. I hope you will not let me wait for too long." _

--

_**Five days later...**_

_**Inside the Moonbucks Cafe – Tokyo Main Branch **_

"_I have heard from Yutaka-San that you__ met him a couple days back, Ootori-San, and that you were using me to threaten him. Don't you think what you are trying to do is _ruthless_? My daughter is pregnant with your child, Ootori-Kun. Can't you at least spare a thought for her?"_

_It was surprising for Kyouya to know that there was a stranger who could tell the truths so openly without feeling the need to at least conceal anything –even only for politeness sake. Not that he felt bothered by it at all. If truth be told, he was quite relieved that he did not need to repeat the same thing he had told Yutaka to Reiko. Probably it was because somewhere, deep down he felt guilty and remorseful for what he was trying to do; towards his unborn child and even Reina. He had been feeling that way since he came in terms with his own heart no matter how hard he tried to deny it. _

"_I am afraid you are _not_ going to like my answer no matter how hard I try to polish it, Yamashita-San. Therefore, you can tell me straight the purpose of you inviting me here in the first place. If what you want is for me to change my mind, I am afraid I am_ _going to disappoint you even further," said Kyouya softly. _

_Kyouya was staring at Reiko's eyes with sincere expression. There was a harsh sadness somewhat clouding his handsome face. It was one of the rarest times where Kyouya could deliberately exhibit his true emotions. It might have been because she was a complete stranger to him. At least till now. Or probably because he was hoping that of all people in the world, the woman in front of him might understand the reason why he decided to follow his heart. _

_--_

_Reiko could see __the plain determination that was apparent in Kyouya's onyx eyes. They seemingly had answered her questions silently. That whatever she said, might not be useful at all to change his mind. It was probably the reason why Reiko hesitated for a second before she spoke quietly. _

"_Yutaka-San and I have known each other long before we became lovers. I__ came from a poor family while he's the only descendant of the infamous Nakashima Clan. It might have sounded like a _cliché _to you. There was a time when I was planning to leave him for good since I knew he was going to marry Sayuri-San in the end. But it was before I knew I was pregnant," Reiko's voice was slightly quivery as though she was trying hard not to cry in front of Kyouya. _

_Kyouya kept quiet while he felt his heart was squirming with bitter guilt __as he was staring and listening to Reiko's explanation. He could not help but to realise that she was nothing like Reina except for her black wavy hair. _

_There was a painful pause as though Reiko was trying to accumulate all her strengths __before she continued, "I had no choice but to leave my daughter to Sayuri-San, hoping against all odds that she would take care of her as if she's hers. There was no way Nakashima-San's family would let me raise her myself. Sayuri-San did not know that I existed in Yutaka's life. All she knew was that Yutaka decided to adopt his long lost niece after both of her parents died because of a terrible car accident."_

_It did not help Kyouya to feel better once he heard Reiko's last sentence on that day. _

"_I believe you know that Sayuri loves Reina so much. But that may change once she realises Reina's real identity. I do not want my daughter to suffer because of me _again_. I beg your mercy, Ootori-Kun. Please, don't let both of them to find out anything about me. _Ever_."_

--

_**Couple of hours later...**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Study Room **_

"_Are you saying that we will _not_ continue to pursue the matter further, Ootori-Sama? But that means all our efforts so far will go down the drain. This is the perfect chance for you to secure the deal with Nakashima Corp. We are running out of time as they may sign the contract with our competitors."_

"_We have to find another way, Tachibana. There must be something that I can use to convince Nakashima-San to sign on the agreement beside that piece of information," said Kyouya with tiredness illustrated on his face. _

_Kyouya tousled his jet black hair in apparent frustration while trying to rack his brain to no avail. He knew that Tachibana was pointing at all the right facts. He might lose his only chance if he did not use his knowledge on Reiko to pressurise Yutaka on signing the contract. However, something in Reiko's expressions earlier that day had made him felt even more ashamed with himself – to think that he had even stooped that low to use that woman as his last weapon to escape from her daughter. _

"_I am sorry to say this to you now, Ootori-Sama. But you must have known it __by now that there is nothing better for us than to use the fact that we know the real mother of Nakashima-Sama is _not_ Sayuri Nakashima but Reiko Yamashita," answered Tachibana blatantly. _

_Kyouya did not even bother to give Tachibana any replies. He was merely staring at the window which illuminated the dim moonlight outside. _

_Without Kyouya even aware of, __Tachibana's eyes quietly darted to the big cabinet on the other end of the room and returned back to Kyouya by the time his young master looked back at him. Both of them spent some moments in total silence before Kyouya sent Tachibana back to his quarter while he left his study room – looking completely defeated. He was too distracted with his own thoughts to even realise that faint sobs could be heard coming out from the big cabinet located at one the corner of the room. _

--

_There were __more than few occasions when Tachibana felt intimidated by Kyouya. Those were probably the main reason why he always refrained himself from speaking his mind out whenever his young master was asking for his opinions. However, at that point of time, it was surely not the right moment for him to let his fear against his young master to take charge of him. He could never let his young master to suffer in the future, not when he could help it – even when it came with small consequences like losing his job, for example. He was ready even for situations much worse than that. _

_Tachibana had worked for Kyouya since he was barely able to walk. He knew that judging from Kyouya's __personality; he might have changed his mind once he met with Reina's biological mother. It would be impossible to change his mind back if that was the case - even when that very same decision might cost him to lose both Haruhi Fujioka and his only chance to become the successor of Ootori Empire. _

_Thus, Tachibana had arranged everything earlier that afternoon without Kyouya's acknowledgement. He knew that hiding inside the big cabinet on the other end of the room was Nakashima Reina. He was the one who suggested to the girl that she should hide herself inside there before Kyouya returned home. She had been asking him countless of times on what Kyouya had been doing while he was locking himself up inside his study room for the whole day almost every day since she moved in with him. It was far too easy for him to persuade Reina to stay there quietly while he was going to discuss the current pressing matter with Kyouya. _

_Tachibana knew that he was not supposed to do what he had done. Yet he had left with not much choice. Reina still persisted to have things her way no matter how cruel Kyouya had been towards her. Therefore he was left with no other options. Between Kyouya Ootori's happiness and his guilty conscience, he had chosen _the first_. _

--

_**Less than an hour later...**_

_**Nakashima Residence – Main Living Room **_

"_Are you okay, Reina Dear? You look terribly pallid; I'll call our doctor to have him check up on you, okay? You should take care of your health better__ than this especially now that you are pregnant." said Sayuri reproachfully while she touched Reina's cold cheek with her bare fingers gently. _

_Reina merely shook her head weakly. She had been staring at her father for quite some time now as though looking for some untold reassurances from him that what she had heard from the conversation between Kyouya and Tachibana back in the Ootori Mansion was a big mistake. _

"_Mother, can you get me a slice of chocolate cake, please? Suddenly I have a weird craving for it," asked Reina, finally broke her eye contact with his father. She needed to know the truth no matter how painful it might be for her._

_Sayuri raised her eyebrows __questioningly upon listening to Reina's request but did not ask anything further. _

_After a couple of seconds later when Reina felt certain__ that Sayuri was no longer around, she finally asked her main intention why she came home that evening, "Father, I want to know _who_ Reiko Yamashita is. I've heard that she's my mother. However, I will never believe that unless it is coming from your mouth. Even when the whole world tells me that she's my mother, I won't believe them as long as you said she's not." _

_For a second Yutaka looked surprised and almost lost his composure upon listening to w__hat Reina just asked him. Yutaka looked pained but merely said, "I am sorry, Reina. I should have told you earlier. I am sorry."_

_Before Reina could say anything__, she felt like she was thrown into a bottomless pit once she could hear Sayuri's voice from behind the living room's partition, "What do you mean by Reiko Yamashita? Don't tell me that you still meet up with that woman until now, Yutaka-San? Don't tell me that you have the heart to do so even when you clearly know that I have raised her daughter like my own."_

_Sayuri walked a couple steps further until she was facing Yutaka. __There was an obvious desperation in Sayuri's shivering voice as she continued, "Both of you must have thought that I did not know anything about her - or the fact that I raise your daughter with her? How stupid does that suppose to make me feel - to continue on hoping that you will only look at me one day? Please tell me, when can I finally be the only one for you, Yutaka-San?" _

_Yutaka was looking at anywhere but his wife. There was nothing he could say now that could make up for the whole mess. He never thought that Kyouya would be merciless to the extent of telling the truth to Reina about her __biological mother only because he disregarded his proposal and told Reiko to persuade him to change his mind instead. _

_--_

_**One week later...**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Reina Nakashima's Bedroom **_

_Reina could not recall when the last time she__ had felt that heartbroken like the one she felt that day was. She had been crying a lot since the day she had met with Kyouya once again in Ouran High School. There was no saying on that. _

_In __her entire life, Reina had always used to people sucking up on her and all of her whims and how tired they had made her feel. Kyouya was different – he never felt the need to make her happy or to pay attention to her existence even for the slightest. There were no pretexts on his attitudes towards her. And just like those people who sincerely adored her, she began adoring him ever since she had laid her eyes on him during his seventh birthday party. _

_Yet the more she felt in love with him, the more frequent she found herself crying because of him. She should have tried harder not to fall in love with him. If that was impossible for her to do, then she should have tried harder to make him fall in love with her instead. But none of those things have happened in reality. Instead she had to lose those precious to her because of him. They had been taken away from her forcefully and there was no way she could get them back to the way they were used to be. _

_--_

_Reina did not know how long she had been staring at the same piece of crumpled paper lying sadly on her lap or how much tears she had spent these past few days. The days passed by like big blurry visions for her ever since she left her house one week ago. _

_There was something amiss in her mother's attitude __during the time when she sent her to the limousine that day. She should have realised it sooner that it might have been the last time for her to see her mother. Yet she only shook off her bad premonitions with some consoling thoughts that Sayuri might have just felt as or even more shocked than her to learn about the existence of Reiko Yamashita in her father's life. _

_She still could not believe that the words written on that piece of paper in front of her had brought the last thought of her mother – the mother that she loved. The only mother she knew – Sayuri Nakashima._

I am sorry, Reina. I could never let her have him. Not then. Not now.

--

_**At the same time...**_

_**Ootori Mansion – Kyouya Ootori's Study Room **_

_Kyouya did not know how many times he had __already watched the same news over and over again. It seemed like all TV stations in the country had decided that that particular news was worth every second of their airing time. Never in his life had he predicted that things could end up that way. There were tears coming unknowingly from his eyes as he closed them shut – trying to get away from looking at the same news that went on and on explaining the same thing - as though they were pointing at his mistake. With or without him intending to do it, he had sent both Yutaka and Sayuri to their deaths._

_--_

"At the moment, the Regional Police had come out with the preliminary result of the accident that had caused the deaths of Yutaka Nakashima, the CEO of Nakashima Corp and his wife, Sayuri Nakashima. Based on the result indicated so far, many experts had believed that the Mercedes Benz's brake was faulty, which caused Sayuri Nakashima-San to lose control while she was driving her car at top speed on their way for a weekend break to their villa in Karuizawa. The vehicle had hit a truck driving towards the opposite direction instead. The couple died instantly while the truck driver is currently still in coma. The Regional Police are still investigating other possible causes of the accident that had resulted in such a major tragedy in Japan's business world. At the moment, the board of directors of Nakashima Corp are still undergoing a closed internal meeting to discuss the future of the company. An unnamed informant from Nakashima Corp's board of directors suggested that there's a possibility of a buyout to be done by Ootori Empire. The company has indicated a great deal of interest to build up a partnership with Nakashima Corp for some time before the CEO passed away. The couple had left one daughter, Reina Nakashima-San. We hope that she is given the strength to pass this difficult test of her life. And next on the news...."

-- to be continued --

**A/N****:** I just got back my laptop yesterday which I have sent for servicing as my colleague spilled water on it. Sadly, there's still something wrong with it so I need to send it back by tomorrow to the service centre. However, I have made a promise two months ago that once I got my laptop back I will update this story. Thus, I must say this is the fastest chapter I have written so far. Normally it took me days to finish a chapter. I hope it can compensate the long waiting time. Please do not forget to review. It is my source of motivation. Hehehe.....

See you next time around.....

**Special thanks to**: **kon**, **ranranran **and **wiwionly **for your continuous supports all this time.

**Thanks for your reviews**: **chiimurasaki**, **dark and bittersweet**, **cantarola**, **berrieatrice.**, **Sedona**, **Chayanne**, **Jiru-senpai**, **fire dragonheart**, **Rayne Hunter**, **Mel's Merleawe**, **emorocks91**, **Ann**, **anelyna**, **chinpunkanpun**, **rakefet**, **Kisa101**, **i love blaise**, **-=kThy=-**, **Regin**, **Kaiyt**, **Focky-Pocky**, **AmicableAlien**, **waizzz**, **eidette112**, **PickachuHater**, **Xan**, **SnowCharms**, **kon**, **Sango The Lecher Slayer**, **Kalachuchi**, **Sakura-Sama**, **wiwionly**, **Ranranran**, **sleepingbeauty**, **Tranguillezza**, **iruka92**, **fantine89**, **sadness & sober**, **DevilHeart13**, **sonata hirano**, **Melodramatic Writer**, **Alya Mira**, and **Rangerette**. Thanks guys for your reviews. They really made my day even brighter!!

**Side Note**:

**Bussanten**: some sorts of food bazaars that are normally hold by big malls where we can buy lots of delicious food from different provinces in Japan. They normally are hold during festive seasons, celebrations, etc.

**Obaachan **/ **Obaasan**: this is how Japanese call an old grandma.

**PASMO / SUICA Prepaid Fare Card**: In Japan, just like some other countries passengers can pay public transports such as buses, trains, or metros by using prepaid fare cards called PASMO / SUICA that can be topped up by refilling the credits at the nearest vending machine each time you have finished all the credits inside the cards. For those who do not have the cards, they can always pay in cash. But please do remember to always pay the bus fare using the exact amount because the bus drivers tend to get grumpy whenever you ask for your change. Believe me things can get ugly because of that not to mention embarrassing to the fullest. Ahem.

Lastly, just in case you are wondering, I have never been to Japan in all my entire life – although if God's willing, I may win a lottery ticket and I'll go there without hesitation. Therefore, all seemingly convincing things or information that I used in this story are solely using either my wild imaginations or researches I have done before writing the chapters. Thus, don't hold me responsible for any misinformation, okay? Peace out.


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